Devotion to the Most Holy Sacrament

DEVOTION

TO THE

Most 1bol£ Sacrament

TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN

OF

J 0 H X BAPTIST P A G A N I

Author of " The Anima Diuota"

A NEW AND REVISED EDITION

LONDON

Hrt aufc J3oofe Company

AND LEAMINGTON
1892

MAR

- 5 958

TO

HIS BELOVED SISTERS IN CHRIST,
WHO HAVE CHOSEN THE BETTER PART,

THE SISTERS OF PROVIDENCE,

THIS LITTLE WORK
IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED

BY THE AUTHOR.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

A LEARNED prelate, writing on the names
given in the Church's Liturgy to the Holy
Eucharist, very properly says that each name
is & picture. In like manner, we might say
that a well-chosen sentence from the Holy
Scriptures is a Treatise, for it supplies abun
dant matter for reflection according to each
one's own disposition and devotion.

This we consider to be the special merit
of the little book of which we offer to the
public a second edition.

The writer of the Devotion to the Blessed
Sacrament, the pious author of The Anima
Diwta, furnishes the Devout Soul with many
well-chosen passages from Holy Writ for
each day of the month, having reference to
Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacra
ment. Each visit dwells on one of the

PREFACE.

many aspects in which we may contemplate
Our Lord in the Sacrament of His love. The
texts of Scripture, chiefly selected from the
New Testament, which are prefixed to the
divisions of each Visit, supply matter of
thought and devout affections to the pious
worshipper.

This edition, carefully revised, is a faithful
translation of the original Italian work,
which was first printed in Milan in 1845,
and has since passed through many editions.

D.CK

CONTENTS.

PAGE

On the practice of Visiting the most Holy

Sacrament ... ... ... ... ... .. 1

On Spiritual Communion 4

Acts which should be made at the beginning of

each Visit to the most Holy Sacrament ... 7

Visit I. Jesus our God, 8

Visit II. Jesus our Creator, ... ... 11

Visit III. Jesus our Preserver, ... ... 14

Visit IV. Jesus our Saviour, ... ... 18

Visit V. Jesus our Mediator, 21

Visit VI. Jesus our Head, 26

Visit VII. Jesus our Master, 30

Visit VIII. Jesus our King, 34

Visit IX. Jesus our Legislator, 38

Visit X. Jesus our True Lover, 42

Visit XI. Jesus our Benefactor, 47

Visit XII. Jesus our Father, 52

Visit XIII. Jesus our Brother, 58

Visit XIV. Jesus our Friend, 63

Visit XV. Jesus our Spouse, 69

Visit XVI. Jesus our Teacher, 73

Visit XVII. Jesus our Leader, 78

Visit XVIII. Jesus our Physician, 82

Visit XIX. Jesus our Shepherd, 86

Visit XX. Jesus our Advocate, ... ... 90

CONTENTS.

11

Visit XXI, Jesus our High Priest, 94

Visit XXII. Jesus our Guest, 98

Visit XXIII. Jesus our Pattern, 102

Visit XXIV. Jesus our Food, 106

Visit XXV. Jesus our Life, ... ... ...Ill

Visit XXVI. Jesus our Comforter, 115

Visit XXVII. Jesus our Sanctifier, 119

Visit XXVIII. Jesus our Judge, 124

Visit XXIX. Jesus our Glorifier, ... ...129

Visit XXX. Jesus our All, 135

Visit XXXI. Jesus our Victim, 140

Offerings of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus ... 146

DEVOTION

TO THE

MOST HOLY SACRAMENT,

ON THE PRACTICE OF VISITING THE MOST HOLY
SACRAMENT.

OUR Lord Jesus Christ was not satisfied to
remain with us only during the adorable sacri
fice of the Mass, but He was pleased to make
our altars His perpetual dwelling-place, that
so He might be always ready to receive our
visits, and to enrich us with His favours. Oh,
what then should be our joy, what our con
fidence and heart-felt love, since we know
that within our churches, and near to our
homes, Jesus abides in the Blessed Sacrament,
and abides there that He may bestow His
graces upon us ! What ought not to be our
gratitude towards our most loving Jesus for

2 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

that unspeakable goodness which has led Him
to make His abode amongst us, that He may
draw us to His sacred presence, and intimately
unite Himself to our souls ! What should be
our care to visit Him often in this Divine
Sacrament, and humbly to offer Him the
homage of our adoration !

The saints, who loved Jesus Christ in very
deed, found all their happiness in visiting
Him frequently.

St. Vincent of Paul used to visit the
Blessed Sacrament as often as he could during
the day, and it was the greatest relief in the
midst of his most pressing labours to spend
a long time in prayer before the sacred
Tabernacle ; there would he kneel with a
demeanour so humble, so modest, so devout,
that he seemed to behold, even with the eyes
of the body, the adorable person of Jesus
Christ. Whenever he had any difficult business
on hand, he would betake himself, like another
Moses, to the sacred Tabernacle, there to con
sult the oracle of truth. Whenever he left
the house, he would go first to ask a blessing
from our Lord, and on his return would
go at once to give thanks for all blessings
received, and humbly to ask pardon for any
fault he might have committed. St. Aloysius
Gonzaga was full of joy whenever he could
pass some time with his most dear Jesus, nor

ON VISITING THE BLESSED SACRAMENT. 3

could he leave His presence without pain. St.
Francis Xavier, in the midst of his incredible
labours, found nothing that gave him so much
relief as to pass a great part of the night
before the most Holy Sacrament. St. Francis
Kegis used to do the same ; nnd once, when
he found the church closed, he remained out
side the doors on his knees, exposed to the
rain and cold, that he might, even at a dis
tance, enjoy the company of his beloved Lord
in the Blessed Sacrament.

Oh, what a boundless field for devotion is
the altar where Jesus dwells in the Sacrament
of His love ! Right well was this understood
by that blessed soul who, being asked why
she remained so many hours before the Blessed
Sacrament, replied : " Is there not present
therein the very essence of God, Who is the
food of the blessed, of that God who ravishes
with ecstasies of love the holy Seraphim 1
AVhat can the soul do before Jesus in the
Blessed Sacrament but love, praise, give thanks
and pray 1 AVhat does a poor beggar do in
the presence of a rich and powerful lord 1 a
sick man before his physician 1 one parched
with thirst at a fountain of flowing water1?
one that is hungry at a plentiful table? Oh,
I could remain there for ever 1 "

ON SPIRITUAL COMMUNION.

SPIRITUAL communion, a practice earnestly
recommended at every visit to the Blessed
Sacrament, consists, according to St. Thomas,
in an ardent desire of receiving Jesus Christ,
and in welcoming Him with loving embrace,
as though we received Him sacramentally.
This exercise devoutly practised has an especial
efficacy for inflaming us more and more with
the fire of divine love, and uniting us ever
more closely with Christ our Lord.

The fittest time for making spiritual com
munion is during the holy Mass, and when
we visit our Lord Jesus in the Blessed Sacra
ment. " Whenever you hear Mass," says St.
Teresa, "endeavour also to make a spiritual
communion, and from this you will gain the
greatest spiritual profit." The faithful who
assist at the holy sacrifice offer, along with
the priest, before the throne of grace, not
only prayers and praises, but the sacred
Victim also ; and Holy Church desires that all
the faithful assisting at the sacrifice should
partake together with the priest of the most
holy Body of Jesus Christ. We find the
holy Fathers most bitterly regretting the time
when, the piety of Christians waxing cold,
they began to give up the saintly custom of

ON SPIRITUAL COMMUNION. 5

communicating daily at the Mass. The prayers
recited by the priest in preparation and
thanksgiving after holy communion are equally
adapted to the use of the faithful assisting
at Mass. These and similar reasons show
most clearly that, if the faithful who are
present at Mass cannot communicate sacramen-
tally, they ought at least to endeavour to com
municate spiritually, that is, in heart and will.

Christians should also make a spiritual com
munion when they visit the most Holy
Sacrament. The principal motive for which
Jesus vouchsafes to remain amongst us in the
Blessed Sacrament is to communicate Him
self to our souls. So great a condescension
on the part of our Lord requires our co-opera
tion. But how can we respond to such an
admirable invention of love, except by an
ardent longing to be united to Him, and to
receive Him into our heart at least when we
find ourselves in His sacred presence ?

In order, then, that you, () devout soul,
may be well disposed for this holy exercise,
begin by making an act of sincere contrition
for all your sins, thus, as it were, to remove
the dust from that chamber into which
you desire your Lord to enter. Having done
this, next excite yourself to a lively faith in
the presence of Jesus Christ in this Divine
Sacrament.

6 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

Consider briefly the grandeur and majesty
of that God whom you behold hidden beneath
the Eucharistic veil ; ponder on the strength
of that love and that infinite goodness which
leads Him to desire earnestly to be united
with so unworthy a creature ; break forth into
accents of humility and longing desire ; — of
humility, when you look upon your own un-
worthiness ; of desire, when you behold the
infinite bounty of your Lord. Seeing, then,
that you cannot now unite yourself to Him
really by sacramental communion, join yourself
to Him at least in heart and affection, and
say to Him in words of burning love : " Come,
my dearest Jesus, come into this poor heart
of mine : come and satiate my desires, come
and sanctify my soul ; come, my most sweet
Jesus, come to my bosom." Imagine, then,
that Mary, our most holy Mother, or some
other of your patron saints, presents to you
the sacred particle, receive Him from their
hands, clasp Him to your bosom, press Him
to your heart ; after which, breaking forth in
accents of thanksgiving and praise, beseech
Him to bestow upon you those graces of
which you find yourself most in need. You
will thus, besides the present advantage which
you draw from the spiritual communion, be
most happily disposed to receive with increased
devotion the real Body of your adorable

ACTS. 7

Redeemer when you approach the Eucharistic
table. For, as wood which is kept warm
and near the fire is the better prepared for
burning, so a heart which is constantly kept
warm with love towards Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament is easily caught by the sacred flame
of love, when it approaches to that furnace of
charity ever burning in these divine mysteries.

ACTS

Which should be made at the bee/inning of each visit
to the Most Holy Sacrament.

0 devout soul, in order worthily to visit
Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, place your
self in His presence by an act of the most
lively faith in your Lord concealed in the
adorable Sacrament, of profound veneration,
confidence, and love towards His sacred
person.

Ask, in the next place, the grace to spend
holily the time you pass in His presence.

And, lastly, unite yourself in spirit with
the angels, who, prostrate before the sacred
altar, offer up their never ceasing adorations
to the immaculate Lamb.

VISIT I.

In which ive contemplate Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament as our God.

I. " Thou art Christ, the Son of the living
God" * One of the principal glories God
vouchsafed to the Israelites of old was that
they were often visited by the angel of the
Lord. But how far higher is our glory, in
that we have with us perpetually in the most
Holy Sacrament, not a Cherub or a Seraph,
but the Son of the living God Himself !
Humble though the outward appearances in
which He reveals Himself in this Divine
Sacrament, yet is He certainly present who is
the only begotten of the Father, the bright
ness of His glory, the image of His substance,
and the infinitely worthy object of His com
placency. As it was love which led Him to
hide His divine majesty beneath the form of
an infant at Bethlehem, and under the sem
blance of a malefactor on the cross, so here,
in this Divine Sacrament, He hides the glory
of His divinity beneath the semblance of
bread, in order to communicate Himself to our
souls. Oh, most admirable invention of love !
Who will not love a God so infinitely lovely ?

II. " Neither is there any nation so great

* Matt. xvi. 16.

JESUS OUR GOD. 9

that hath gods so nigh them, as our God 'is
present to all our petitions." * What people
on the face of the earth in their wildest dreams
ever imagined their gods so near to them as
our true God is to us? Who would have
imagined it possible that the God of majesty
and of glory, to show His love towards us,
would deign to dwell perpetually in our
churches, and close to our very habitations ;
that He would place His delight in admitting
us at all times to His presence, and in con
versing with us ? Oh, prodigy of love ! Oh,
infinite abyss of charity !

III. " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul,
and with thy whole mind" f Behold, 0 devout
soul, what your Lord requires from you. Far
from driving you from His presence, as your
sins have deserved, He calls upon you to love
Him without reserve, and with all your powers.
Oh, do you not marvel at this infinite con
descension of your God, who deigns to admit
you to such an honour ? Is it not the height
of glory to be able to love a God of infinite
bounty — that God, a single ray of whose
countenance ravishes with ecstasies of adoring
wonder the whole multitude of the blessed
spirits in heaven, and forms the very delight
of Paradise 1 But how have you hitherto

* Deut. iv. 7. t Matt. xxii. 37.

10 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

corresponded to so great a grace ? how have you
met His loving invitations ? how have you
obeyed His commands 1

Ah, woe is me, that, instead of loving so
good a God, I have shamefully turned my
back upon Him, and have offended in a
thousand ways this infinite majesty ! Alas,
have pity, my most sweet Jesus, have pity
on this miserable sinner ! " God be merciful
to me a sinner." * Do not treat me according
to my merits, but according to the multitude
of Thy mercies. Fill my heart, 0 Lord, with
a lively sorrow for my sins, and give me grace
henceforth to consecrate myself wholly to Thy
love. And whom shall I love if I love not
Thee, 0 majesty and bounty infinite? 0
dearest Jesus, I do desire to love Thee ; I
desire to consecrate my whole heart to Thy
love. What are pleasures to mel what are
riches ? what are honours ? 0 my God, I
care for nothing in the world but Thee. O
my most sweet Lord, " Thou art the God of
my heart, and my portion for ever." f

Pray for me, Mary my sweetest Mother,
obtain that my heart may evermore melt with
tenderness of love towards thy Divine Son.

EJACULATION. — Have mercy, 0 my God, on
this miserable sinner.

(Finish the visit with a spiritual communion.)

* L\ike xvii. 13. t Psalm Ixxii. 26.

11

VISIT IT.

In which we contemplate Jesus in the Blexsed
Sacrament as our Creator.

I. u The Word was God all tilings were

made l>y Him" * Who was it, 0 devout
soul, that gave you being and life, together
with all those gifts of nature and of grace
with which you are adorned1? Ah, you know
full well who is the author of these excellent
gifts. It is Jesus, that same Jesus who is
enclosed within yonder sacred Tabernacle, and
from thence regards you with eyes of the
most loving tenderness. He is your Creator;
and all that you are, and all that you possess,
comes to you from His hand, and is the
gracious gift of His bounty. " He made us,
and not we ourselves." f He it was who gave
you your natural life, when He drew you out
of nothing, and breathed into your body the
breath of life. He has, moreover, given you
the supernatural life of grace, enlightening
your mind with the light of faith, and kindling
in your heart the fire of His holy love. Ah,
then, docs not so good a Lord deserve all
your gratitude 1 And have you, then, the
courage to offend Him1? Is it possible that

John i. f Psalm xcix. 3.

12 DEVOTION TO THE ULKSSED SACRAMENT.

you have dared to abuse His graces, and to
turn His gifts against the Giver ?

II. " And every one that calleth upon My
name, I have created him for My glory. I
have formed him, and made him." * See, 0
devout soul, the end for which our most
loving Jesus lias drawn us out of nothing, and
has made us what we are. He has not created
us that we may enjoy the false pleasures of
this earth, and give our love to creatures,
but that we may direct all our powers to
love Him with our whole heart, and, doing in
all things His holy will, come to glorify
Him for ever in heaven, there, together with
the angels and saints, to hymn His praises
and be for ever absorbed in the ocean of His
love. Behold the desire of the sweetest heart
of Jesus. Behold that which moved him to
breathe into our face the breath of life, and
to give us a living soul, f What is there
that we ought not to do to gain so exalted an
end ?

III. " Remember thy Creator before the

sun and the light and the moon and the stars
be darkened" J What use, 0 devout soul,
have you hitherto made of your life and of
the other gifts which you have received from
your Creator? How have you employed the

* Isaias xliii. 7. t Gen. "• 7.

J Kccles. xii. 1, 2.

JESUS OUR CREATOR. 13

powers of your body and the faculties of your
mind? Have you kept your heart with all
diligence? Have you consecrated it wholly to
Him who has given it to you, and who claims
it for His own ? But, whatever has been your
life in time past, at least, do not for the future
forget your Creator. Kemember Him while
yet the day blesses you with its light, and
before the dark night shall overtake you, that
night in which no man can work. *

Ah, yes, my sweetest Lord, I wish evermore
to have Thee in my thoughts, to bear Thee
deeply graven on my heart. I thank Thee
for having created me, and for having lavished
numberless gifts upon me. 0 my dear
Lord, I desire to live only for Thee. Grant
that henceforth my every thought, my every
sigh, my every breath, may tend to Thy glory
and Thy love. " Create in me a clean heart,
0 God, and renew a right spirit within me." f
Yes, dearest Jesus, take away from me this
heart of stone, and give me a heart of flesh,
that I may walk faithfully in the way of Thy
commandments ; oh, despise not the work of
Thy own hands. "I am thine, oh, save
me ! " I

To you, my Mother, sweetest Mary, I com
mend myself. I hope for everything through
your intercession.

* John ix. 4. t Paalm 1. 12. ± Psalm cxviii. 94.

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

EJACULATION. — Jesus, my Creator, have mercy
on me, and save my soul.

VISIT III.

In which ive contemplate Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament an our Preserver.

I. "In Him we, live and move and are."*
What would have become of us, 0 devout
soul, if our Lord and Creator had at any moment
withdrawn His bountiful hand, and left us to
oui'selves and to our own weakness 1 That
very instant, without doubt, we should have
returned to that nothing from which we were
first drawn by an act of His bounty. As
the light would no longer diffuse itself over this
universe, if the sun should cease to pour forth
its rays, so, if the Divine Sun should cease
to diffuse in our souls the light of life, we,
too, should cease to exist, and should sink
that instant into the nothingness from which
we originally came. See here, then, 0 devout
soul, a new motive which should bind thee to
this thy most loving Jesus, who is present in
the Divine Sacrament. It is true, we see not
how He exerts over us His infinite power ;
but it is not less certain that we are always

* Acts xvii. 28.

JESUS OUR PRESERVER. 15

in His hands, and that He ceases not to
breathe into our frame the breath of life. As
by His omnipotence He has called us out of
nothing, so by the same omnipotence does
He continually preserve our life, and thus in a
manner sustain in our behalf the act of
creation, so that, whether we live, or move, or
breathe, all comes from Him — from the power
of that omnipotent arm which upholds us.
How, then, can we ever be ungrateful to
a God of such infinite bounty 1

II. " As the living Father hath sent Me,
and I live by the Father, so he that eateth Me
the same also shall live by Me." * The bounty
of Jesus Christ towards us is shown not only
in preserving our natural life, but yet more
gloriously in preserving the supernatural life
of the soul by grace. For why is it that He
dwells with us in this Sacrament of love 1 A\fhy
does He unite Himself with us, and com
municate Himself to our souls'? Behold the
wonder of His bounty ! He humbles Himself
to this degree that He may nourish us with
His own flesh, and that by His life we may
live. u I am the Bread of Life," He says ;
" as the living Father hath sent Me, and I
live by the Father, so he that eateth Me
the same also shall live by Me." Hence the

* John vi. 58.

16 DEVOTION TO THE ULESSED SACRAMENT.

saints call this heavenly Sacrament the tree
of life, the food of immortality.

III. " Wiry will you die, 0 house of
Israel ? " * As once the Lord deplored the
blindness of His people of old when they
turned their backs upon Him, so now, as He
remains hidden beneath the sacramental species,
does He with greater reason deplore the blind
ness of so many Christians, who, although
they know that in Him they possess a never-
failing fountain of life, yet ungratefully turn
from Him, and bring upon themselves a
deplorable death. " Ah, unfortunate beings," does
He exclaim from the Sacred Tabernacle, " why
will you not come to My bosom, that you may
partake of the water of salvation springing
up unto life eternal 1 Do you not know that
I have come to cast fire from heaven upon
the earth, and that I long for nothing so
much as that it be enkindled in your hearts ?
Know you not that the food which I dispense
from this sacred place is the Bread of Life,
whose property it is to restore and vivify the
souls of men 1 Why, then, will you keep
afar from Me, and cast yourselves into the
arms of death ? ' Why will you die, 0 house
of Israel? "! What, 0 devout soul, shall we
answer to these just complaints of our most

loving Jesus?

Ezech. xviii. 31.

JESUS OUR PRESERVER. 17

Alas, have pity, 0 sweetest Jesus, on this
miserable creature ! It is, indeed, but too true
that I have in times past been so ungrateful to
Thee, and so cruel towards my own soul, as
to turn my back upon Thy mercy to live after
my own will and pleasure. It is but too true
that I have chosen darkness rather than light,
and death in preference to life. But henceforth
I earnestly desire to be Thine, and Thine only.
What will it profit me to gain the whole
world, and to enjoy all its pleasures, if I lose
Thee1? Oh, permit me not at any time to be
of the number of those wretched beings who
walk in darkness and in the shadow of death.
Draw me to Thee, 0 Lord, by the sweet
chains of Thy grace, that I may worthily
partake of Thy most sacred Body, and visit
Thee with ardent devotion, as Thou dost
remain in Thy most holy Tabernacle, that I
may evermore be united with Thee, and that
by Thy life I too may live. 0 my God, I
look for this grace from Thy infinite bounty,
and from thy intercession, 0 Mary, my sweetest
Mother.

EJACULATION. — Preserve me, O Lord, from
eternal death.

18

VISIT IV.

In which we contemplate Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament as our Saviour.

I. " Thou shaft call His name Jesus : for
He shall save His people from their sins." *
Words fail to express the depth of misery
in which our poor humanity was sunk before
the coming of Jesus Christ. Stripped of super
natural good and oppressed by innumerable
evils, it groaned under the tyrannical sway of
the powers of darkness, who aimed at its
destruction. A poor wretch covered with
ulcers from head to foot, a prisoner loaded
with heavy fetters, are but faint images of
man's lamentable condition. But who was it
that drew him out of his hopeless misery 1
Who freed him from this horrible dungeon 1
Who rescued him from the jaws of eternal
death 1 Lift up your eyes, 0 devout soul, and
fix them on yonder sacred Tabernacle, for
there you behold your liberator. It was Jesus
who did this, that same Jesus who is now
seated on our altars as on so many thrones of
love. He it was who succoured us in our
piteous case, and drew us forth from the pro
found abyss of wretchedness into which we

* Matt, i. 21.

JESUS OUR SAVIOUR. 19

had sunk. Clothed with our frail mortality,
He appeared amongst men, not to judge and
condemn the world, though its crimes called
aloud for vengeance, but that through Him it
might be saved. " For God sent not His Son
into the world to judge the world, but that
the world may be saved by Him." * Oh,
tenderness ! Oh, bounty unspeakable !

II. " You were not redeemed with corrupt
ible things, as gold and silver but with the

precious Blood of Christ, as of a lamb un
spotted and undefiled." f What price did our
most loving Jesus pay to ransom us from the
slavery of hell, and place us in the way of
salvation ? Did He lavish gold or silver, or
costliest gems 1 Be astounded, ye heavens, and
you, 0 highest Seraphim, veil your faces in
adoring wonder. The Son of the most high
God paid our ransom with His own Blood —
with that most precious Blood every drop of
which was of infinite value. Ah, here indeed
the powers of thought are confounded, and the
mind is lost in an abyss of unfathomable
mystery !

III. " Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for He hath visited and wrought the redemp
tion of His people" j A prisoner rescued
from a horrible dungeon through the mercy

* John iii. 17. t 1 Peter i. 18, 19.

20 DEVOTION TO THE .BLESSED SACKA.MENT.

of his prince feels that he owes a debt of
infinite gratitude to his benefactor. And what
are our feelings, 0 devout soul, when we reflect
on all that Jesus Christ has done for us ?
What return ought we not to make for such
infinite bounty ? Would a holocaust of ten
thousand victims suffice to show our gratitude 1
0 my sweet Saviour, be Thou for ever
blessed for having deigned to visit me and
to redeem me with Thy most precious Blood !
Oh, permit not, I beseech Thee, that through
my fault that Blood be shed for me in vain.
Behold my soul empurpled witli Thy most
precious Blood, and guide it to the secure
haven of eternal safety. Oh, how bitterly does
it grieve me, that I have hitherto corresponded
so little with Thy goodness ! that, far from loving
Thee as Thou hast deserved, I have crucified
Thee afresh by my sins. Have pity, 0 my
Lord, on Thy wretched creature, who full of
shame and grief for his sins implores again
Thy infinite goodness. Ah, woe is me ! what
would have been my lot at this moment, hadst
Thou permitted me to die whilst yet I was
Thy enemy 1 Instead of blessing Thee and
partaking of the fruit of Thy passion and
death, I should have been compelled to curse
and blaspheme that precious Blood which Thou
hast shed for my salvation. But, my God, I
earnestly beseech Thee, since of Thy infinite

JESUS OUR MEDIATOR. 21

mercy Thou hast preserved me from so great
an evil, and again offered me Thy grace and
Thy love, to, perfect the work which Thou
hast begun within me, draw me entirely to
Thee and make me wholly Thine own.

0 sweetest Mary, remember me before the
tlironu of thy Son ; obtain for me the grace to
love Him and serve Him for ever.

EJACULATION. — 0 Blood of my Saviour,
inebriate me.

VISIT V.

In which we consider Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament
as our Mediator.

I. " The mediator of God and man, the
man Christ Jesus." * Mortal sin is an act of
rebellion of the creature against his Creator,
for by it man casts off the yoke of the divine
law, and prefers a short momentary satisfaction
to the love of his God ; he raises between
himself and his Lord a wall of separation.
" Ye are no longer rny people," said the Lord
to faithless Israel, " nor am I any more your
God, your sins have raised a wall of division
between us." Woe to man if after his sin he
had been for ever left to himself, for he would
have remained perpetually in a state of hatred

* 1 Tim. ii. 5.

22 DKVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

and enmity with God. But happy, thrice
happy are we who possess a Mediator most
powerful and most beneficent. Who inter
posed in your behalf, 0 devout soul, when
you had been so miserable as to offend the
divine majesty by your sins ? Who vouchsafed
to plead your cause before the heavenly
Father, to reconcile you with the offended
majesty of God? AYho but our most loving
Jesus 1 Who but this same Jesus who now
calls you with such sweet encouragement into
His presence, and is ever ready to nourish
you with His own Body in this Sacrament of
love ? And who is there, I say not of the
race of men, but even in the ranks of the
highest Seraphim, who could have undertaken
such an office, but Jesus Himself? Who but
Jesus could have rendered God propitious to
us, by presenting Himself before the divine
throne. Oh, blessed are those on whose deep
misery Jesus has had pity, to whom He has
applied the merits of His bitter passion and
death upon the cross, and, triumphing over
their hardness of heart, made them well pleas
ing in the sight of His heavenly Father.

II. " You are come to Jesus, the Mediator

of the New Testament, and to the sprinkling

of blood which speaketh better than that of

Abel" * It was a great glory to the people

* Hebr. xii. 22, 24.

JESUS OUR MEDIATOR. 23

of Israel to have had Moses as their mediator
with God. But what was their glory when
compared with ours, who have as a Mediator
the Son of God Himself in His sacred
humanity ? Moses was only illustrious as
being a type of the Mediator of the new
covenant, at whose appearance the ancient
figures passed away as do the shades of night
at the approach of the sun. "You are not
come," writes St. Paul in his Epistle to the
Hebrews, " to a mountain that might be
touched, and a burning fire, and a whirlwind,
and darkness, and storms, and the sound of
a trumpet, and the voice of words, which they
that heard excused themselves that the word

might not be spoken to them But you

are come to Mount Sion, and to the city of
the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and
to the company of many thousands of angels

and to Jesus, the Mediator of the New

Testament, and to the sprinkling of blood
which speaketh better than that of Abel," *
for the one cried to the Lord for vengeance,
the other for mercy.

III. "No man cometh to the Father but
by Me" f Jesus Christ is our Mediator, not
only because by Him we were reconciled to
the Father when we were enemies to Him
through our sins, but also because we cannot
* Heb. xii. 18, 22, 24. t John xiv. 6.

24 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

make one single step towards eternal life and
towards God our Father without His aid.
The eternal Father has placed all His com
placency in His only-hegotten Son, Jesus Christ,
and has constituted Him the one means
by which souls shall be conducted to His
bosom. Wherefore the apostle St. Peter
declares that there is no other name under
heaven given unto men whereby they may
be saved but only the name of Jesus Christ. *
Do you not feel then, 0 devout soul, emotions
of the deepest tenderness at this reflection 1
Will you not offer to God the Father the
thanksgiving of your whole heart, that He has
vouchsafed you such a Mediator 1 Will you not
break forth in accents of most heartfelt rejoic
ing, for that grace by which you can at all
times freely approach this Divine Mediator in
the most Holy Sacrament ? Will you not kiss
the pavement of the sacred altars, with a soul
filled with the most burning love for Him
who makes there the place of His rest 1

I adore Thee, 0 sweetest Jesus ; prostrate at
Thy sacred feet I acknowledge myself worthy
of a thousand hells, for having hitherto made
so ill a return for all Thy love. What more
could I have done to offend Thee, if instead
of being my Mediator Thou hadst been my

*Acts. iv. 12.

JESUS OUR MEDIATOR. 25

enemy 1 Ah, woe is me that I have lived so
long at a distance from Thee, and attached to
the unreal goods of this miserable earth, as if I
could find my end, not in loving and glorifying
Thee, my only good, but in feeding myself on
the filth and ordure of this fleeting perishable
world. But Thou, O my dearest Saviour, art
rich in mercy. To Thee then do I recommend
myself, beseeching Thee to create in me a new
heart, and renew a right spirit within me. Oh !
thrice happy should I be if I could wholly
detach myself from created things, and con
centrate all my love in Thee and in Thee
alone. This is my earnest desire, this I hope
to obtain from Thee, by the merits of Thy
most sacred wounds and by that all burning
love with which Thy divine heart is tilled in
the most Holy Sacrament.

0 Mary, my sweetest Mother, turn upon
me your loving eyes, and obtain for me the
grace to be for ever wholly dissolved by this
most holy love of Jesus.

EJACULATION. — Pierce me, 0 Lord, with the
dart of Thy love.

26

VISIT VI.

In which we contemplate Jesus Christ in the Blessed
Sacrament as our Head.

I. " He hath made Him Head over all the
Church, wliicli is His body."* Since Jesus
Christ sacrificed His life that He might cleanse
to Himself an acceptable people a pursuer
of good works, therefore has the eternal
Father placed all things under His feet, as St.
Paul the apostle declares, and made Him to
be Head of His Church. How does Jesus
Christ exercise this office of headship over us 1
Oh, how admirable are the wonders of His
bounty towards us, His miserable creatures !
With what unspeakable sweetness does He
govern us, and communicate to us the inestim
able treasures of His grace ! As in the human
body the head, which is the seat of all the sensi
tive powers, directs the motions of all the other
members, which thence derive their vital force,
so, in the mystical body of the Holy Church,
the Head, which is Christ, directs and governs
all the members, who draw from it that divine
influence which vivifies them and enables them
to lead a heavenly life. Oh. how ineffable is

* Ephes, i. 22, 23.

JESUS OUR HEAD. 27

the bounty of Jesus towards us, how unspeak
able is our happiness !

II. " Who is the head of all Principality
and Power."* Jesus Christ is not only Head
over us who form His Church here below: He
is also Head over the angels and archangels,
of the Cherubim and Seraphim, and all the
blessed legions of paradise. For from the
moment He made His first appearance on this
earth, when He lay a new-born infant in the
manger at Bethlehem, yea, rather from the
first instant of His Conception in the virginal
womb of Mary, the angels, bowing down in
deepest adoration, acknowledged Jesus as their
Head. "And when He bringeth in the First-
Begotten into the world, He saith : And let all
the angels of God adore him." f But now
that He has ascended into heaven, and sitteth
at the right hand of the Father, He is con
tinually surrounded by legions of angels and
blessed souls, who, in profoundest adoration in
His sacred presence, cast down their crowns
before His throne, and laud and glorify Him
eternally, saying: "Worthy is the Lamb that
was slain to receive power and divinity and
wisdom and strength and honour and glory
and benediction." J What shall we say of

* Coloss. ii. 10. t Hebr. i. 6.

£ Apoc. v. 12.

28 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

those multitudes of blessed spirits who con
tinually surround the altars where Jesus deigns
to dwell thus familiarly amongst us, and dwells
that He may unite Himself to our souls 1
What wonders would be presented to our
sight, were those veils for a moment with
drawn which now hide the glories of our
Lord, and were it given us to behold Him
revealed to mortal eyes, together with all the
heavenly hosts by whom He is surrounded !
But, if we may not behold Him with the eyes
of the body, let us at least contemplate Him
with those of faith, which teach us that here in
the sacred Host, He who is the infinite beauty
and the infinite good of paradise, is present
with us. 0 my God, what veneration, what
unspeakable tenderness ought not this most
adorable mystery to excite within us !

III. "Doing the truth in charity, we may in
all things grow up in Him who is the Head, even
Christ."* Behold then, 0 devout soul, in what
manner we ought to show ourselves worthy
members of our great Head, who is Jesus
Christ. For this end we ought to walk in the
truth, and make ourselves ever more and more
like to Him by a most lively and ardent
charity. Thus shall we increase ever more in
the unction of the Spirit, until we arrive at

* Ephes. iv. 15.

JESUS OUR HEAD. 29

that fulness of spiritual life in which \ve shall
be for ever united to our Beloved. But, if we
feel that we have not as yet sufficient spiritual
strength to rise so high, let us invoke the aid
of Him who is our Head, let us beseech Him
to pour into us in abundance that water of
salvation which wells forth from His sacred
wounds, and is a fountain springing up to life
eternal.

0 my sweetest Jesus, reject me not from
Thy Presence, deny me not that draught of
the water of life with which Thou dost refresh
the beloved members of Thy Body. " Cast
me not away from Thy face, and take not Thy
Holy Spirit from me."* Hear me, 0 Lord,
as on Mount Tabor Thou didst hear the voice
of Thy heavenly Father. Look upon me, O
Lord, with those eyes with which from the
tree of the cross Thou didst regard Thy most
sorrowful Mother. Speak to me with those
lips with which in Thy last agony Thou didst
console Thy well beloved disciple, St. John.
Open Thy heart, 0 sweetest Lord, and receive
mine, that henceforth it may ever burn
and consume with Thy holy love. I am
indeed most undeserving of such tenderness,
but, relying on Thy infinite bounty, I feel
certain that Thou wilt not reject the suppli-

* Psalm 1. 13.

30 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

cations of Thy servant, but wilt give me the
grace which I seek.

0 Mary, sweetest of Mothers, succour and
assist me by Thy all-powerful intercession, that
I may dedicate myself without reserve to thy
dearest Jesus.

EJACULATION. — Live, Jesus, my love, and
Mary, my sweetest hope.

VISIT VII.

I)i which we consider Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament as our Master.

" Know you not that you are not your

own? You are bought with a great price" * No
sooner did our first parents rebel against God,
than the devil, that cruel enemy of souls,
straightway took possession of their hearts,
became their master, and subjected them with
all their posterity to the most ruthless bondage.
Xow who rescued man from this merciless
enemy 1 Who drew him forth from this dismal
prison-house? Who burst asunder the iron
fetters with which he was bound 1 Oh, un
speakable goodness of our most sweet Jesus,
which has delivered us from our hopeless
misery ! Appearing in this world clad in our

* 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20.

JESUS OUR MASTER. 31

flesh, He engaged in mortal combat with the
powers of darkness, vanquished them, and
delivered us from their tyranny. "Despoiling
the principalities and powers, He hath exposed
them confidently in open show, triumphing
over them in Himself." * Yes, it was He, our
most loving Jesus, who, yielding Himself to
the cross and being lifted up from the earth,
thus triumphed over the prince of this world
and cast him out, drawing all men to Himself,
"The prince of this world shall be cast out,
and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will
draw all things to Myself." f We are then no
longer our own, but we belong to Christ, who
has bought us with the price of His own most
precious Blood. By this victory which He
has gained for us over the slavery of hell, He
has acquired a new title of dominion over us,
as over the people purchased by His conquest : J
and we on our part have contracted a new
obligation of gratitude and service to our Lord
and Master. Whether then we live or die, as
the apostle St. Peter says, we are not our own,
but belong to Him by the right of conquest.
" For none of us liveth to himself ; and no
man dieth to himself. For whether we live,
we live unto the Lord ; or whether we die, we

* Coloss. ii. 15. t John xii. 31, 32.

± 1 Pet ii. 9.

32 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

die unto the Lord. Therefore, whether we live
or whether we die, we are the Lord's." *

II. "He is the Lord of lords."} Men of
the world commonly think it a great tiling to
serve some master of exalted rank, especially
if they are near his person and can converse
easily with him. But what shall we say, who
are so highly favoured as to have Jesus Christ
for our Master ? Who so great as He, at whose
name all who dwell in heaven, on earth, and
beneath the earth, bend the knee ?J Who so
loving and benignant as He who admits us
thus to His presence, and treats familiarly
with us as if we were His equals'? May we
not be said rather to reign than to serve, when
we obey so exalted, yet so sweet a Lord 1
But how many, alas, beguiled by the delusions
of passion, cast from them this sweet yoke,
and give themselves up anew unto the power
of Satan ! Oh, blindness ! 0, unspeakable
madness !

III. " The ox knoweth. 'its owner, and the ass
its master's crib, ltd Israel hath not known Me,
and My people hath not understood.'" || 0,
ungrateful souls ! does Jesus exclaim from the
sacred tabernacle, 0 souls impenetrable to love !
How long will ye be so hard of heart as thus

* Horn. xiv. 7, 8. t Apoc. xvii. 14.

J Philip, ii. 10. II Isaias i. 3.

JEHUS OUR MASTER. 33

to turn your backs upon the Lord to whom
you belong, and to run after your vanities and
follies ? How long will you be more dull and
insensible than the very brutes, for they know
their master and are grateful to the hand that
caresses them 1 Why will you not come to Me,
to Me who burn with desire to enrich you
with My graces and to make you eternally
blessed 1 Oh, why will you not engage in
good earnest in My service, which alone can
render you eternally glorious in heaven 1

Oh, my sweet Jesus, how bitterly does it
grieve me to have so often offended Thee,
instead of loving and serving Thee with all
my heart and soul !

Ah, wicked world ! traitorous passions ! would
that my eyes might be turned into two foun
tains of tears, that I might bitterly weep
for my past abominable infidelity. Perish the
day, may that night be hid in eternal oblivion,
in which I dared first to outrage Thy infinite
bounty, 0 my God. I am resolved from this
hour to devote myself wholly to Thy service.
Let the world persecute, let hell itself rage
against me, I am resolved henceforth to acknow
ledge no other Master and Lord than Thee,
my Sovereign and my only Good. Confirm
me, Lord, by Thy efficacious grace, in these
my resolutions. Kelp me to cast far away all
love of creatures, and to concentrate my whole

34 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

heart in Thee alone.

0 Mary, my sweetest Mother, receive my
soul into your keeping ; cause it to be all on
lire with holy love.

EJACULATIONS. — I am Thy slave, my dearest,
my only Good. Oh, most sweet, most happy
chains of my servitude !

VISIT VIII.

In which we contemplate Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament as our King.

I. " He hath on His yaniient and on His
thigh written, King of kings and Lord of lords."
There was never, perhaps, on earth, a king
more glorious than Solomon. His might and
the majesty of his empire have ever been,
and will always continue, an object of the
highest admiration among men. But what are
all the monarchs of this earth compared to
the King of heaven, who is present here
concealed in this Sacrament of love ? To Him
who is the King of kings, the supreme Lord
of all earthly potentates ! To Him by whose
might " kings reign and law-givers decree just
things," by whom "princes rule and the mighty
decree justice."* To Him in whose hands are
the hearts of kings, and who turneth them

* Prov. viii, lo,

JESUS OUR KING. 35

whithersoever He will. * To Him in whose
hands are the heavens, the earth, and the abyss
beneath. Who is there that can or shall ever
be able to draw us from the power of His
dominion 1 For, " if I ascend into heaven Thou
art there, 0 Lord, and if I go down into hell
there also do I find Thee, and if on the wings
of thought I fly to the uttermost part of the
sea, even there also shall Thy hand lead me,
and Thy right hand shall hold me." f Oh, how
great is the majesty of that King whom we
have ever present on our altars ! He is the
immortal and invisible King of ages, to whom
belongeth honour and glory for ever. Before
Him all the powers of the earth bow down
and obey, and the princes of the heavenly
hosts cast their crowns down to the ground.
Compare now, 0 devout soul, the infinite great
ness of Jesus with your own meanness and
abomination. Alas, is it not an insult for a
creature such as I am to present myself before
so dread and mighty a sovereign 1 Oh, how
can I bear the presence of so overwhelming a
majesty, I who dare not raise my eyes to gaze
on the lowest servant of His heavenly court 1
Oh, why does not my heart burn with shame
and grief, when I think of the irreverence
which I have so often committed in His pre
sence 1 Why do not my tears flow in ceaseless

* Prov, xxi. 1. t Ps. cxxxviii. 10.

36 DISVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

torrents, when I consider my vile treasons
and ingratitude 1

II. " My yoke is sweet and my burden is
I if/ht." It is the right of every sovereign to
impose burdens on his subjects. But what is
the yoke of our divine King 1 Oh, who can
declare the wonders of His goodness ? Well
might He have treated us with the severity
our sins have deserved ; but no, He willed
that, where our sins had abounded, there should
His grace likewise abound.

The yoke which He has laid upon us is so
sweet, that, instead of being a burden, it is
rather a consolation to those who willingly
take it upon themselves. " Take my yoke upon
you," says Jesus, " and learn of me, for I am
meek and humble of heart, and you shall tind
rest for your souls — for my yoke is sweet and
my burden is light."* It is true that, to bear
this yoke, we must make sacrifices very
irksome to our corrupt inclinations • but he
that will bend his shoulder to the yoke will
tind there such assistance and consolation, that
the bitterness will be turned to sweetness, and
that which is heavy will become light.

III. " Behold tliy King cometli unto tliee
meek." f The kings of this earth are wont to
make a great display of the high-sounding titles
which indicate their grandeur and their majesty.

* Matt, xi, 29, 30. t Matt. xxi. 5.

JESUS OUR KING. 37

Now what is the title most dear to our divine
King, and in which he takes delight ? Oh, who
can describe the greatness of His condescension
towards such miserable slaves as ourselves !
Of all the glorious titles He had a right to
claim, He prefers none to that of King of
meekness and benignity. Xor is this an
empty title, but one justly due to His most
stupendous deeds. For how did He act
during His mortal life on earth ? How does
He at present treat with us in this Sacrament
of love? What are the laws of His govern
ment ? What the chains by which He binds
His subjects to Him ? Are they not the
inventions of the most exalted love ? " I will
draw them," says He by His prophet, " by
the cords of Adam with the band of love." *
Hosanna, then, let us sing with exulting voice.
Hosanna to the Son of David, hosanna to
our King. Blessed be He that cometh in the
name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
My God and my King, behold me then at
Thy feet, beseeching Thee to take entire
possession of my heart, and to rule there
supreme by Thy holy grace. I kiss with pro
found veneration those sacred chains which
bind me to Thee, to my sovereign Lord, and
I have no other desire but to obey Thee
perfectly in all things. Oh, happy fortune that

* Osee xi. 4.

38 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

has made me the subject of the King of
heaven, who orders all things for the greater
good of His faithful servants ! How far better
is it to serve Thee, 0 my God, than to rule
the whole world ! Oh, never permit me then,
most gracious Lord, to cast off Thy sweet yoke,
to break Thy bonds, and to withdraw myself
from Thy service. My past life has been one
of the basest ingratitude, henceforth I long
only for the time when I shall be wholly
Thine. Reign over me, 0 Lord, in this life
by Thy grace, and in that which is to come
by Thy glory.

EJACULATION. — 0 Lord, rule Thou my heart
and soul.

VISIT IX.

In which we contemplate Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament as on?- Legislator.

" / will give my law in their bowels, and I will
write it in their hearts."* The people of Israel
gloried much in their law-giver, Moses, but far
greater is our glory, 0 devout soul, in having
for our law-giver the Son of God Himself, the
very Wisdom incarnate, of whom Moses was
but a type and shadow. The law of Moses

* Jerem. xxxi. 33.

JESUS OUR LEGISLATOR. 39

was a law of fear and servitude ; the Jaw of
Christ is one of love and of grace. The law
of Moses was directed chiefly to the senses of
men ; that of Christ takes possession of their
souls. Moses, however sage and holy, could
not infuse into the hearts of his people a love
of the law which he gave them, and the power
to observe its precepts. But our divine legis
lator has not only given to us the law, but,
together with it, has also gifted us with His
grace, whereby to love and practise what it
teaches. In Christ we have a divine legislator,
who has graven His laws upon our inmost
soul, and written them in the deepest recesses
of our heart.

II. " Love is the fulfilling of the law" *
See here, O devout soul, what is the spirit,
the form, the compendium, and the fulness of
the law of Christ. It is no other than holy
love, divine charity. All that is commanded,
says St. Gregory, the whole law is compre
hended in charity. Jesus Christ, after having
announced the two great precepts of charity,
Himself declares that on these depend all the
law and the prophets, f Could He have given
a law more sweet and lovely than this 1 Can
we conceive a higher glory and honour than
that we should be not only invited but urged

* Rom. xiii. 10. t Matt. xxii. 40.

40 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

and even obliged to love a God of such infi
nite bounty1? Whom shall we love if we
love not a God who is worthy of an infinite
love 1 To whom shall we consecrate our heart,
if not to Him who has created and pre
served it, and who alone can satisfy and
render it happy ? Ah, woe to him who loveth
not, since he abideth in death ! * If, says St.
Paul, any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ,
let him be anathema, f

III. " / will put my Spirit in the midst
of you, and make you to walk in nuj pre
cepts" \ 0 devout soul, consider well these
words, which breathe the sweetness of Paradise.
Do they not signify what \ve see every day
fulfilled, and have so often experienced in
ourselves'? Have we not continually with us
present on our altars that good God who,
beneath the sacramental species, communicates
His grace in such abundance, thus making
His law easy of execution 1 Can we not say
with truth, when we have the high privilege
worthily to receive that Blessed Sacrament of
love, that the charity of God is poured forth
in our hearts, by means of the spirit which
He hath given us, § and that, by virtue of
this spirit, we find the yoke of Christ easy
and His burden light ? Oh, happy, thrice happy

* 1 John iii. 14. t 1 Cor. xvi. 22.
£ Ezech. xxxvi, 2>. § Rom. v. ~>.

JESUS OUR LEGISLATOR. 41

are we who live in these blessed days, in
which together with the law is given also
the grace by which to observe it ! But, alas,
how few are there who prize their high privi
lege ; how many who, instead of using these
graces for their sanctification, make them an
occasion of offence to their Lord, by reason
of their ingratitude !

I bless Thee, 0 Lord Almighty, Father of
Jesus Christ my Saviour, and I return Thee
my most hearty thanks for that Thou hast
vouchsafed to give me Thine only-begotten
Son, to be to me a law-giver most holy and
most mighty. 0 Lord, look upon the face of
Thy Christ,* and, by reason of His abundant
merits, grant me grace faithfully to keep Thy
holy law. Pour forth, 0 God, Thy Holy
Spirit upon me, and make me to walk in the
way of Thy commandments. Draw me to
Jesus, my Lord, with the sweet chains of Thy
love, and suffer me not at any time to fall
away from Him. O Jesus, my most sweet
Lord, take me within Thine arms, hold me
in Thy bosom, hide me within the hollow of
Thy side, that 1 may wholly turn away from
the things of this world and give all my
thoughts to Thee. Punish me for my sins,
afflict me as Thou wilt for my ingratitude —
but Thy holy love, 0 Lord, take not away

* Ps. Ixxxiii. 10.

42 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

from me. Give to me, 0 Lord, Thy love
together with Thy grace, and behold I am
rich enough, and ask of Thee nothing more. *
EJACULATION. — 0 Lord, write Thou Thy law
in the midst of my heart.

VISIT X.

In which we contemplate, Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament as our True Lover.

I. " I have loved thee with an everlasting
love"]- Who was it, 0 devout soul, that first
loved you ? Was it your father or your mother?
Ah, no ; it was Jesus Christ Himself. Before
your parents themselves were born, Jesus loved
you. Before the earth existed, or any of the
creatures that are in it, Jesus loved you. He
loved you before time, from all eternity. l ' I
have loved thee with a perpetual love." The
prophet David marvelled that the Lord should
deign to have regard to man. But what should
be our astonishment when we consider that
our most sweet Jesus not only is mindful of
us, but that He has borne us written on His
heart from all eternity, and has thought of us
for our good before all time began 1 He who
is unmoved at this thought either is without

* S. Ignatius. t Jerem. xxxi. 3.

JESUS OUR TRUE LOVER. 43

faith or has a heart of stone. Oh, then let us
love our dearest Lord, since He loved us first
of all. " Let us love God, because He first
loved us." *

II. " He 'who loved me, and delivered Him
self for me." f The love which Christ bears
to us is no sterile love of mere words, but
is a love strong and mighty in deeds. What
but His love for us led Him to clothe Him
self with our mortality and to become Man 1
What moved Him to take upon Himself
all our miseries and to suffer for us ? What
was it that nailed Him to a cross and made
Him die upon it 1 Ah, devout soul, full well
do we know the cause. It was His too
great love for us — it was nothing else but
His excessive love. As it was this love for
us which moved the Eternal Father to send
into the world His well-beloved Son for our
redemption, so it was the same love which
moved that Divine Son Himself to become
Man, to suffer, to hang in agony, and at last
to die for us upon the cross.

Oh, how then can we be so insensible to
this excess of love 1 How is it that our
hearts do not glow with the fire of charity at
the thought of a God scourged and dying for
love of us 1 Alas, we think but seldom of this
stupendous mystery of love, and hence it is

* 1 John iv. 19. t Gal. ii. 20.

44 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

that we are languid and cold in our love of
our most loving Jesus. Let us then cast
away our tepidity, and give all our love to
Him who has done so much to gain it. Let
us not forget those great words of St. Paul,
that Jesus died for all, that ihey who live
may not now live to themselves, but " unto
Him who died for them." *

III. "Jesus, knowing that His hour was
come, that He should pass out of this world
to the Father ; "having loved His own, who were
in the world, He loved them unto the end" f
Behold with awe and astonishment, 0 devout
soul, the piteous sight of thy sweet Jesus, His
sacred body one wound from head to foot.
Behold Him overwhelmed with insults and
barbarously nailed to the cross. What more
could He have done to prove His love to you 1
Are not these the utmost limits which even His
immense chanty could reach? Rise, then, ()
loving souls, and filled with sacred ardour
tell ye to all people the admirable inventions
of your loving and beloved Jesus. The mystery
of the cross, great and stupendous though it
be, was yet insufficient to satisfy the ineffable
tenderness of that loving heart. The charity
of that divine heart urged Him yet further
to greater excesses of love. Kaise then your
eyes, 0 devout soul ; fix them upon yonder

* 2 Cor. v. 15. t John xiii. 1.

JE.SUS OUR TRUE LOVER. 45

altar, and within that sacred tabernacle you
will discover the greatest triumph of Jesus' love
towards us. That most sacred Host, deprived
as it is in appearance of all splendour and
dignity, is the very masterpiece of divine
bounty, and the compendium of all the greatest
marvels of God's love to man. "He hath
made a remembrance of His wonderful works,
being a merciful and gracious Lord. He hath
given Food to them that fear Him."* By
means of that most Sacred Host, the Son of
God made man dwells continually with us,
communicates Himself to our souls, and per
petuates in the midst of us the same ineffable
mystery which He once consummated on the
cross. This is, in fine, the greatest prodigy
of the divine goodness, and the greatest pledge
of His love that a God of infinite charity
could have given to man. And does not one
who is insensible to such an excess of love
deserve to be an object of universal abhor
rence 1

0 my God, what confusion, what shame
to me, when I consider how often and how
long I have been ungrateful to Thy infinite
bounty ! How was it possible that I could
have had the cruelty to rebel against the good
ness of my Lord, and to afflict so bitterly

* Psalm ex. 4, o.

46 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

His most loving heart 1 Oh, horrible blind
ness ! See here your most loving Saviour, who
stretches out His arms towards you, and calls
you to His bosom ; and you, instead of answer
ing His call, have turned your back upon
Him, and despised all His graces. He has
prepared for you a saving bath of His own
most sacred blood to wash your guilt away;
and you, instead of availing yourself of it to
cleanse your soul, have trampled it beneath
your feet.

He has provided for you the food of para
dise, His own sacred body ; and you have
turned from it to wallow in the mire of all
uncleanness. In fine, while He has thought
and provided for your life in a thousand
ways, you, instead of showing yourself grate
ful for His goodness, have risen up against
Him, and crucified Him again by your sins.
Oh, who will give a fountain of tears to my
eyes 1 * Who will grant that my contrition
and bitterness of heart shall exceed the sea
itself in magnitude ? Pardon, 0 my God,
pardon this miserable creature. Heal me with
Thy saving grace, and grant me henceforth
to love Thee as much as I have hitherto
offended Thee. I desire nothing from this
day forward but to live and die in peace

* Jer. ix. 1.

JESUS OUR BENEFACTOR. 47

with Thee, and to unite myself for ever to
Thy holy love.

EJACULATION. — 0 Lord, grant that I may
faithfully respond to Thy holy love.

VISIT XI.

In which ice contemplate Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament as our Benefactor.

I. " He went about doing good" * Con
sider the feelings of mercy, of tenderness, of pity,
and of liberality with which Jesus Christ,
during His mortal life, went about doing good
— giving sight to the blind, healing the sick,
raising the dead to life, and pouring out bles
sings on all who approached Him. These He
now feels, and even more strongly, in this
Sacrament of love. Picture to yourself a
great fire enclosed within a narrow furnace ;
with what ardour and intensity does it not
burn ! Such may you imagine the heart of
Jesus to be in the most Blessed Sacrament.
Think how it suffers, if we may say so, an
inexpressible agony of pain through the exces
sive fulness of grace with which it is filled,
and to which it cannot give vent, not finding
hearts disposed to receive it. Our Lord one

* Acts x. 38,

48 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

day spake thus to a devout soul, showing her,
from that throne of love, His heart like
an abyss of tire : " Assist me," said Jesus,
"dear daughter, relieve me of some part of
this burden. Publish to the world, and
cause to be proclaimed throughout the
whole earth, that I set no bounds to the
graces which I bestow on those souls who come
to seek for them from this loving heart of
mine." 0 ye sons of men ! how long will
ye be hard of heart ? How long will ye run
after vanity and deceit ? Unhappy beings, what
do you hope for from those goods which you
so eagerly seek, and for which you spend your
labour and your strength, but bitterness and
affliction of spirit 1 Open, then, your eyes before
it be too late ; lament your dire delusion ; raise
your heart to objects worthy of its love ; and
place all your hopes of peace and satisfaction
in Jesus alone.

II. " If any man thirst, let him come to
Me and drink" Oh, how many are the
sweet invitations which Jesus Christ makes
to us from His throne of love, calling us to
Him that He may enrich us with His graces.
He that thirsteth, let him come unto Me and
drink. Whosoever shall ddnk of the water
that I will give, shall not thirst for ever.
Because the water that I shall give him shall
be within his heart a fountain of living water

JESUS OUR BENEFACTOR. 49

springing up to life eternal. * Come to me,
all ye whose lips are parched with thirst, and
I will give you to drink. I will refresh
you. f "All ye that thirst come to the
waters." j Draw near to Me, and draw from
My pierced side the waters of eternal life.
Ye shall draw waters with joy from the Saviour's
fountain. § Like a mother whose breasts are
filled with milk, and who goes abroad seeking
for children whom she may take to her bosom,
so in like manner does Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament invite all to come to Him and to
draw from His sacred breast the milk of para
dise. Oh, what return shall we then make to
our good Lord for the favours of His infinite
bounty ? When holy Tobias beheld his son
return home from his long journey, he was
overpowered by the consideration of the innu
merable favours and benefits which his son
had received from the angel who accompanied
him, and whom he took merely for a holy man.
He called his son to him and said, " What can
we give to this holy man, that is come with
thee?" Tobias answering, said to his father,
" Father, what wages shall we give him 1 or
what can be worthy of his benefits 1 . . . What
can we give him sufficient for these things 1 "
But when they understood that their benefactor

* John iv. 14. + John vii. 37.

% Isai. Iv. 1. § Isai. xii. 3.

50 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMEXT.

was an angel from heaven, then, indeed, says the
Scripture, lying prostrate for three hours upon
their face, they blessed God : and rising up, they
told all His wonderful works.* If, then, the con
sideration of the favours which they had re
ceived from a creature made so great an im
pression on the hearts of these holy men,
what emotions ought we not to feel within
us at the thought that we have been so un
speakably favoured by our Creator and
Redeemer Himself 1 If they blessed the Lord
for this visit of His angel, what ought we to
do, who have with us continually, not indeed
an angel, but the King of angels and of saints,
the very Son of God made man ? Oh, let us
bless the God of heaven, and give glory to
Him in the presence of all that live, because,
in giving to us His Divine Son in the most
Holy Sacrament, He hath shown forth His
great mercy towards us. f

III. " What is there that 1 ought to do
more to my vineyard, that I have not done
to it ? " I What more could our most loving
Jesus have done for us, that He has not
done 1 Has He not magnified His mercy
towards us, and poured forth upon us His
graces in abundance 1 What return have we
made to this infinite goodness 1 Ah, thankless

* Tob. xii. 22.
t Tob. xii. 6. ± Isai. v. 4.

JESUS OUR BENEFACTOR. 51

hearts, does He exclaim from these sacred
altars, hearts which know not love. I have
rescued you from the slavery of hell ; and you,
instead of showing yourself faithful servants
of your lawful Master, have done nothing but
afflict Me with outrages. I have planted you
in the fair garden of my Church, and you,
instead of bearing fruit to life eternal, have
produced nothing but thorns and brambles.
I have fed you with the manna of My sacred
body, and you have given me in return gall
and vinegar. I have prepared for you a royal
diadem, and you have pierced My head with
a bitter crown of thorns. I have raised you
up from your low estate, and you have crucified
Me on a shameful gibbet." *

Oh, mercy, Jesus, full of pity ; mercy for
this miserable creature! Alas, I grieve from
my very heart for having made so ill a return
for Thy unspeakable goodness. But oh ! cease
not to pour out Thy benefits upon me. If I
have hitherto so much abused Thy favours,
I am now resolved that it shall be so no longer ;
I will use them for Thy glory and my own
sanctification. Enlighten my eyes with one
ray of Thy heavenly light, whereby I may
discern more clearly the vanity of all things
of this earth, and the inestimable price of
the things of heaven. Pour forth of Thy

* Holy Church in the Office of Good Friday.

52 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

Holy Spirit into my heart, and make it to
become a perfect victim of Thy love. I desire
most earnestly to be detached from every
created thing, to die to the world and to its
vanities, and to live to Thee and to Thee
alone. Oh, happy, thrice happy should I
be, could I love Jesus, my sweetest Lord,
with my whole heart and soul and mind.

0 Mary, Mother most sweet and tender, to
you I commit myself. I pray you obtain for
me this grace from your beloved Son Jesus.

EJACULATION.— Pour forth, () Lord, Thy
grace into my heart.

VISIT XII.

In which we contemplate Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament as our Father.

I. " Thy children like olive plants round
about Thy table" * Amongst the various titles
with which our Divine Savour condescends
to address those who come to Him in full
confidence in His divine goodness and power,
one is that of children. "Children," He
said to the apostles, " how hard is it for
those who trust in riches to enter into the
kingdom of God." j

* Psalm cxxvii. 3. t Mark x. 24.

JESUS OUR FATHER. 53

" Be of good heart, son," He said to the
man sick of the palsy, " thy sins are for
given thee." * This title of sons, by which
Jesus Christ addressed his followers, belongs
not to them so much as the offspring of His
hands, because He has given to them their
natural life, as because He has regenerated
them in the waters of baptism, and there
breathed into their souls the supernatural life
of grace. Hence, since it is certain that by
means of holy baptism we were born to the
new life by virtue of the grace of Christ, in
which we were truly regenerated or born again,
we are therefore become truly His children,
and He has become verily and indeed our
Father. Wherefore Isaias, speaking in the
spirit of prophecy, says of Him, " For a Child
is born to us, and a Son is given to us, and
the government is upon His shoulders. And
His name shall be called Wonderful, Coun
sellor, God the Mighty, the Father of the
World to come, the Prince of Peace." f

It is in the Blessed Sacrament of the
Eucharist that this loving Father most clearly
displays His paternal care and treats most
tenderly with His children. For in this
Divine Sacrament it is that He presses them
to His bosom, instructs, consoles, sustains

* Matt. ix. 2. t Isai. ix. 6.

54 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

them with the Bread of Life. Rejoice, 0
devout soul, in the possession of so good,
so tender, so loving a Father. Where shall
we find an earthly father whose tender
ness towards his children approaches to His1?
What is a mother's tenderest love compared
to that which Jesus bears to His children 1
For it is thus He speaks by His prophet
Isaias, saying that a mother may indeed
forget the fruit of her womb, but He will
never forget us. " If she should forget, yet
will I not forget thee." * " Behold I have
graven thee in My hands, f and upon My
heart. Thou art to Me as the pupil of Mine
eye. He that toucheth thee toucheth the
apple of Mine eye." J

II. "My son, give me tliy heart." § Be
hold, 0 devout soul, what it is that Jesus
asks of you. He asks not that you afflict
your body with rough hair-cloths, that bread
and water should be your best repast, that
you hide yourself from the face of men in
some solitary cavern, or go to dwell with the
beasts of the wilderness. No, all He asks
of you is to give Him your heart. He does
not expect you for His love to pass your life
in perpetual weeping, or give yourself up a
prey to continual unceasing insults and

* Isai. xlix. 15. + Isai. xlix. 16.

$ Zach. ii. 8. § Prov. xxiii. 26.

JESUS OUR FATHER. 55

injuries ; He only wills that you take Him
for the sole object of all your affection and
of all your labours. He wishes, in fine, that
you love Him with the true affection of a
son ; that so He may press you to His bosom
with the true affection of a Father. Could
He have made a request more tender, more
sweet, more loving than this 1 Ah, would
that we understood aright what it is to give
our heart to a God of infinite goodness ; then
should we feel so moved to tenderness that
we should even be ravished out of ourselves
at the very thought ! Who can express the
infinite good possessed by him who reposes in
the bosom of his God, who forms the delight
of the heart of his God ? Why, then, 0 devout
soul, do you not correspond better to the sweet
invitation of Jesus to give Him your heart 1
Does He not indeed deserve that we consecrate
ourselves wholly to His glory and His honour ?
Has He not a thousand titles to our warmest
gratitude, to our most ardent love? — He who
is infinite beauty, sweetness, goodness, so that,
had we a thousand hearts to consecrate to
Him, it would be all too little, and we
should yet be all too far from loving Him
as much as He deserves. How then can we
dare refuse this one heart which we have to
give, and which we know that He holds so
dear ?

56 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

III. " The son honour eth the father ....
if then I be a Father, wliere is My honour ?
.... saith the Lord of Hosts." * Since we
have in Jesus Christ a Father so infinitely
great and good, it is our strict obligation to
honour Him with our whole heart. But how
have we fulfilled this obligation 1 If He is
our Father, where is the honour we have
paid him ? Oh, monstrous ingratitude of men !
" I have brought up children and exalted them,"
He exclaims from yonder sacred Tabernacle,
" and they have despised me." j With shame
and confusion, let us bow down and humble
ourselves to the dust before our Father ; let
us return Him hearty thanks that He has not
in chastisement of our ingratitude for ever
cancelled our names from the number of His
children. Indeed, we have because of our
unfaithfulness deserved to be driven from
His sight for ever, and condemned to pay
the penalty of our baseness in eternal torments.
But see, our good Father has not only borne
with us patiently, He has even con
tinued to pour forth His graces upon us and
to treat us as His beloved children.

0 most beloved Jesus, behold at Thy
feet an ungrateful prodigal, who, covered with
shame and confusion, returns to his Father,
grieved for having offended so good and tender

* Mai. i. 6. t Isai. i. 2.

JESUS OUR FATHER. 57

a Father. Verily, I deserve not to be called
Thy son. But, 0 good Jesus, supply for my
unworthiness from the fountain of Thy infinite
mercy. Permit me once more to throw myself
into Thy arms. Ob, press me once again to
Thy bosom, and give me leave to call Thee,
as of old, by the sweet name of Father. De
prive me, if Thou wilt, of the sweet and
sensible consolation of Thy presence, reserved
for those innocent souls who have always been
faithful to Thee. Take not away from me
Thy love and Thy grace. Remember that,
although I deserve not any longer to be num
bered amongst Thy children, because of my
offences, yet Thou hast not ceased to be my
Father. Despise not, 0 Lord, the work of
Thy own hands. Grant that, as out of Thy
infinite bounty I have been made partaker
of the life of grace in this world, so I may
receive in like manner the life of glory in
the world to come.

O Mary, my Mother and my sweetest hope,
pray for me, and never more permit me to
offend your Divine Son.

EJACULATION. — 0 my Jesus, have pity on
Thy ungrateful child.

58

VISIT XIII.

In ivhich we contemplate Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament as our Brother.

I. " The first-born among many breth
ren." * Jesus Christ is not only our Father,
but He is also most truly our Brother. He
is our Father inasmuch as He has begotten us
anew to the life of grace ; He is also our
Brother, inasmuch as, regenerating us to the
life of grace, He has made us the adopted
sons of God and also His brethren by adop
tion. " You have not," saith St. Paul, " re
ceived the spirit of bondage again in fear, but
you have received the spirit of adoption of
sons, whereby we cry : Abba (Father)." f
" Behold," saith St. John, " what manner of
charity the Father hath bestowed upon us,
that we should be called and should be the
sons of God." J And again in the beginning
of his Gospel he says, " As many as received
Him, He gave them power to be made the
sons of God." § What sweet hope and joy
should we not conceive when we consider that
we have in Jesus Christ a Brother so tender
and so loving.

* Rom. viii. 29. t Rom. viii. 15.

£1 Johniii. 1. §Johui. 12.

JESUS OUR BROTHER. 59

II. " And about him was the ring of Ms
brethren" * Great was the goodness of Joseph,
who, when exalted to be Viceroy of Egypt,
instead of taking revenge on his brethren as
lie might easily have done, not only pardoned
them the grievous injuries which they had
formerly inflicted on him, but with brotherly
tenderness called them to his arms, pressed
them to his bosom, and received them with
especial favour. But the bounty and goodness
of Joseph towards his brethren is only a
figure of that which Jesus Christ continually
exhibits towards us. Who can number the
injuries which ungrateful Christians inflict
every moment on that sweetest and tenderest
of hearts? How many are there who commit
the most horrible outrages against His adora
ble person, and as far as it is in their power
crucify him afresh by their sins ! How many
acts of ingratitude and infidelity does He not
every day receive at the hand of those whom
He has more especially benefitted, and who
should serve Him with greater perfection !
How many souls are there to whom He has
shown an especial predilection, drawing them
from out the dangers of the world and placing
them in the road to sanctity, but who, in
stead of corresponding to His goodness, are
insensible to His favours and even dare to

* Ecclus. 1. 13.

60 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

offend him grievously ! But in what manner
does He treat these ungrateful souls ? Does
He treat them with indignation ? Does He
launch against them the arrows of His wrath 1
Does He reject or at least refuse to admit
them to His sacred presence ? Ah, no ; on
the contrary He ceases not to treat them with
His wonted tenderness, and to visit them
with His graces ; to invite them sweetly to
His arms, and to make ready for them the
Food of Paradise. Is it not thus, indeed,
that Jesus has treated you, 0 devout soul,
when turning from your sins you have cast
yourself at His feet and implored His pardon?
Did He meet you with reproaches ? Was He not
on the contrary all tenderness and pity ? 0
my soul, bless thou for ever the name of the
Most High, in that He has given thee a
Brother so infinitely loving and bounteous !
Consider how in the Blessed Sacrament Jesus
Christ shows forth most clearly His loving
bounty and brotherly tenderness. For it is
in this Divine Sacrament that He treats most
familiarly with us, He makes us sit with
Him at table, He imparts His favours and
graces to us ; He inflames us with His love
and unites Himself most intimately with our
souls. Ah, thrice blessed are we, who can at
any moment treat with this most loving
Brother, lay open to Him our whole hearts,

JESUS OUR BROTHER. 61

beseech Him to inspire us with His graces,
and to unite us even more closely to Himself.
III. " Whosoever shall do the will of my
Father that is in heaven, lie is my brother." *
The foundation of our union with Jesus
Christ as our Brother consists wholly in the
likeness which we bear to Him, and in the
intimate union of our souls with Him by
means of divine grace. For this it is which
makes us the children of God, and renders us
beloved in the eyes of our heavenly Father,
who loves us with a supernatural love only
in so far as we are one with His Beloved Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ. Whoever, then,
wishes to be bound in the sweet chain
of brotherhood with Jesus Christ must above
all things be faithful to grace, and conform
his will to that of his Lord. Be not de
ceived, dearly beloved, exclaims Jesus, from
the sacred Tabernacle. Mere words and
empty protestations of love will not suffice
to make you partakers of the grace of
brotherhood with Me : deeds and acts of
generosity are required. It is necessary that
all vicious inclinations should be repressed, all
disorderly affections should be renounced and
your whole heart sacrificed to Me by conforming
in all things to My will. "He that doth
the will of My Father, who is in heaven, he

* Matt. xii. 50.

62 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

is My brother ; " without this, the title of bro
ther will be a mere empty name, which will
only increase your confusion at the day of
judgment.

Oh yes, my dearest Lord, I do earnestly
desire to wage continual war with my pas
sions, and to consecrate my whole being to
Thy holy love. 0 God of my heart, I grieve
for having offended Thee ; I have long enough
been ungrateful to Thy infinite bounty ; but
now I am resolved to seek no other consola
tion, no other good but Thee, my Life, my
Treasure, my All. Oh, pour forth Thy Holy
Spirit upon me, that I may become worthy
of brotherhood with Thee, and an object of
complacency in the eyes of my heavenly
Father. Cleanse my soul with Thy precious
Blood, inflame it with Thy divine charity.
O Jesus, regard not my infidelities, think
only of Thy love and tender compassion.
Free me from sin by virtue of Thy sacred
wounds, and give me grace to become a saint.

0 Mary, my sweetest Mother, come to my
succour ; obtain for me this grace from your
Divine Son, that I may live and die in His
holy love.

EJACULATION. — 0 Lord, Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.

63

VISIT XIV.

In which we contemplate Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament as our Friend.

I. "Eat, 0 my friends, and drink and be
inebriated, my dearly beloved"* Who could
ever have imagined that the God of majesty
and glory, the King of heaven and earth,
should so condescend to His miserable crea
tures as to dwell continually in the midst of
them, and invite them to share His friend
ship? Yet what it would have seemed folly
even to imagine, we see actually before our
eyes in this Blessed Sacrament of love.
What could we desire to find in the tenderest
and best of friends, which we possess not in
a most eminent and perfect degree in our
sweet Lord Jesus? In the first place, He
loves us with a most ardent love, insomuch
that, although His greatness and magnificence
are without bounds, yet does He delight in
dwelling amongst us. " My delights," says He,
" were to be with the sons of men." f He is,
moreover, ever ready to dispense His graces to
us in abundance ; and from these sacred altars
He continually invites us to come to Him,
that He may enrich us with His favours.

* Cant. v. 1. f Prov. viii. 31.

64 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

Moreover, He illuminates our minds with His
heavenly light, and reveals to us His hidden
secrets. For He declared to His apostles,
and repeats now from the sacred Tabernacle
to the loving soul : " I will not now call you
servants, for the servant knoweth not what his
lord doth ; but I have called you friends,
because all things whatsoever I have heard of
my Father, I have made known to you."*
In fine, He invites us continually to His
sacred bosom, and burns with the desire of
taking a lasting possession of our souls. Come
unto Me My well-beloved friends, does He
exclaim in this Sacrament of love ; come unto
Me, eat, drink and be inebriated. The food
wherewith My sacred board is spread is My
own body, and the drink is My own most
sacred blood. Eat, then, and drink, that so
we may become but one in the bond of love.
" He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My
blood, abideth in Me and I in him." f Ob,
infinite condescension ! Oh, love unspeakable !
Oh, abyss of charity !

II. "A faithful friend is a strong defence ;
and he that hath found 1dm hath found a
treasure." \ Amongst men it is accounted a
great thing to have any connexion, however
distant, with the great ones of the earth, and

* John xv. 15.
t John vi. 57. J Ecclus. vi. 14.

JESUS OUR FRIEND.

65

especially with kings and princes. And they
who receive from them any particular mark
of friendship are quite elated with joy, and
imagine themselves to have arrived at the
very summit of glory. The proud Haman
" called together to him his friends and Zara
his wife, and he declared unto them, saying,

Queen Esther also hath invited no other

to the banquet with the king but me, and
with her I am also to dine to-morrow with
the king." * Xo sacrifice is so great, or labour
so troublesome, that a man will not undergo
it in order to procure a distinguished place at
court, so that he may recommend himself in
some degree to the notice of his sovereign.
If, then, the friendship of earthly princes is so
much valued, how greatly ought we not to
esteem the friendship of the King of heaven ?
If to gain the friendship of the noble and the
great, no sacrifice is considered too much,
what sacrifices should we not be ready to
make to acquire the friendship of the Sover
eign of the universe 1 Compared with Jesus
Christ, what are all the monarchs of this earth
but dust and ashes 1 Shall we then be
cold and languid in our efforts to become
the friends of so great a King, in comparison
with whom all the sovereigns of the earth are
as though they had never been 1 Shake off

* Esther v. 10.

66 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

then, , 0 devout soul, your sluggishness of
spirit, and resolve to concentrate your whole
being in Jesus ; to take him for the dearest
friend of your heart. Blessed will you be if
you shall have placed all your love in Him,
for in Him you will find a sure comfort and
stay in the time of need. " Blessed is he that
findeth a true friend." * Leaning on such a
friend, you shall securely pass through this
life, and shall not fear to enter into the very
shadow of death. Bind yourself close to Jesus,
and you shall find in Him at all times a faith
ful friend, a powerful protector, and a heavenly
treasure.

III. " You are my friends if you do the
things which I command you" f In order to
gain the friendship of earthly monarchs, it is
not enough merely to desire it ; sometimes
even the greatest sacrifices do not suffice.
How many, after having gone through great
difficulties, impaired their health and spent the
best part of their life in the pursuit of dis
tinction, have found themselves at the end
immersed in a sea of cares, and as far as ever
from the object of their desires? Far dif
ferent is it with those who aspire to the
friendship of the King of kings ; a sincere
desire will secure it. The friendship of the
great is not granted to all, and the few who

* Ecclus. xxv. 12. t John xv. 14.

JESUS OUR FRIEND. 67

gain it esteem themselves singularly privi
leged ; but it is not so with the friendship of
Jesus, for this all men can obtain, whatever
be their condition, be they rich or poor, noble
or plebeian. The friendship of earthly sover
eigns cannot be gained in an instant; but the
friendship of Jesus Christ can be acquired in
one moment. " Behold," said that courtier of
whom St. Augustine speaks in his Confes
sions, "at this very moment I may become,
if I will, the friend of God." For, to become
the friend of Jesus Christ, all that is required
is a firm resolution and will to keep His holy
law. You shall be my friends, said this most
loving Saviour to His apostles, if you keep
My commandments. This is the one neces
sary condition for attaining to the friendship
of our Lord Jesus Christ. "If you love Me,"
He says from the sacred Tabernacle, " keep
My commandments."* "He that hath My
commandments and keepeth them, he it is
that loveth Me."f Enter now into yourself,
0 devout soul, and examine well what care
you take to observe His laws with hdelity.
What are your affections, your aim, your in-
.tentions 1 Can you say that in all your actions
you follow no other rule than the holy will
of God ; that you love nothing except in
reference to God 1 Search then your heart

* John xiv. 15. t John xiv, 21.

68 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

with all diligence, and whatever faults you
discover, however light they may be, apply
yourself earnestly to destroy them; for, al
though light infractions of the law of God do
not deprive us of the divine friendship, they
tend nevertheless to weaken its strength and
chill its ardour, and but too often expose the
soul to the danger of losing it altogether.

I thank Thee, 0 most sweet Jesus, for
Thy infinite goodness in treating me as Thy
friend. But what am 1 1 And what art Thou,
my God ? Am I not a miserable creature,
unworthy of Thy grace, deserving of nothing
but chastisement 1 Art not Thou a God of
infinite majesty, deserving of infinite homage
and love 1 How then can it be that Thou
shouldst so abase Thyself as to unite me to
Thee, and raise me to the dignity of a friend?
Oh, blessed for ever be Thy infinite goodness,

0 God of my heart ! For ever blessed be that
most loving heart, which so burns with love
for such a miserable worm. Blessed be Thy
most holy wounds, Thy blood, Thy death,
which are to me as a mine of inexhaustible
treasure. I love Thee, O God of my heart.

1 desire to live and to die only for Thy love.
O Mary, my most sweet Mother, cast upon

me a pitying glance. Oh, obtain for me the
grace to love your divine Son for ever and

r>

ever.

JESUS OUR SPOUSE. 69

EJACULATION. — 0 sweet Jesus, melt my bard
heart, kindle it with Thy holy love.

VISIT XV.

In which ice contemplate Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament as our Spouse.

I. "7 will espouse Thee to me in faith"*
Why did Jesus assume our human nature, and
clothe Himself with our infirmities 1 Why
did He pour out His most precious blood, and
undergo the painful death of the cross 1 What
was the design of His most loving heart in
suffering such afflictions, and in all the
miracles and wonderful works which He con
tinues to show forth in the Sacrament of His
love? Who could believe it possible, did not
faith assure us of it ! Jesus Christ did and
suffered so much, in order to celebrate His
heavenly espousal with our souls, and to con
tract with them the most intimate union.
This is a wonderful and stupendous mystery,
but yet most true. The soul of the just is
indeed the beloved spouse of Jesus Christ, and
He is her Beloved. This espousal is wholly
spiritual and heavenly, founded upon faithj
formed by charity ; it has its beginning in this

* Osee ii. 20.

70 DKVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

life through grace, and its consummation in
the next life in glory.

II. " Can the children of the bridegroom
mourn as long as the bridegroom is with
them"* How consoling are these words to
those loving souls who have taken Christ for
their Spouse ! What greater blessing could
they desire in this life, than to have evermore
present with them in this Sacrament of love
the dear object of their holy affection, their
most loving Jesus 1 What joy ought they
not to feel at having this beloved Spouse so
near at hand, that they can visit Him when
ever they please, open to Him their hearts,
and pour forth the loving affection of their
souls ! What consolation, what happiness !
Here reflect, 0 devout soul, that Jesus Christ
is not the Spouse of innocent souls only, but
even of penitents. As He condescended to
give the name of bride to St. Catherine of
Siena, that most pure virginal soul who had
always kept unsullied the white robe of her
baptismal innocence, so also did He deign to
confer the same title on St. Margaret of Cor-
tona, once a great sinner, but afterwards an
illustrious penitent. It is true, indeed, that
sin impresses on the soul a mark of infamy,
which renders it an object of abhorrence in
the eyes of Jesus ; but by His grace these

* Matt. ix. 15.

JESUS OUR SPOUSE. 71

filthy stains are washed away, and the soul be
comes again an object of complacency to its
Lord.

Ill " Behold the Bridegroom cometh, go
ye out to meet Him."* What a consolation to
loving souls is the consideration that their
sweet Spouse, Who at present conceals Him
self beneath the sacramental veils, will come
to meet them at the end of their mortal life,
clothed in all the splendour of His glory, to
call them to His embrace, and to celebrate
with them an eternal union of love ! What
joy will then be theirs, when they behold
unveiled their most adorable and loving Lord,
in Whose bosom they will find their eternal
repose *? But remember, 0 devout soul, that
our loins must be girt, and our lamps must be
burning in our hands, f if we desire to go
forth with gladness to meet the Bridegroom,
and to be received by Him with the love of
a Spouse. We must have our consciences
pure and undefiled, and our heart must burn
with the heavenly fire of charity. Thus
prepared, we shall joyfully meet Jesus when
He approaches, and He will receive us in
triumph ; but woe to us, if we venture to
meet Him unprepared ; for He will close the
door upon us, and drive us from His face,
like the foolish virgins of the Gospel.

* Matt. xxv. 6. t Luke xii. 35,

72 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

Oh, permit me not, dear Jesus, I beseech
Thee, to present myself before Thee without
having first cleansed away the filth from this
heart, and done worthy fruits of penance.
Since Thou hast done and suffered so much
in order to unite to Thyself this soul of mine,
oh ! give me grace to die to every created thing,
and to live to Thee alone. O divine fire,
inflame my heart, and consume in Thy ardent
flame whatever Thou seest disorderly or vicious
within me. Grant that my soul may love
Thee, and remain ever united to Thee in this
life, that so, in the life to come, it may con
summate together with Thee those eternal
nuptials of love which will form its never-
ending felicity and blessedness. Would that
I could love Thee, my dearest Lord, as much
as Thou deservest to be loved. But since
this, alas ! is impossible, let me at least love
Thee as much as I am able. Yes, my most
loving Jesus, be Thou my love, my only, my
sweetest love. I am resolved to live and to
die only for Thy love.

0 Mary, my Mother, best of all beloved,
help me, I beseech thee, and kindle within
this heart true love of thy dear Son Jesus.

EJACULATION. — Take into Thine own hands,
O sweetest Jesus, this soul of mine ; govern
it and direct it evermore according to the good
pleasure of Thy will

73

VISIT XVI.

In which we contemplate Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament as our Master.

I. " One is your Master, Christ." * In
what condition was the world respecting the
knowledge of the truth before Christ's coming?
With the exception of the Jewish nation the
whole world was involved in one universal
mist of ignorance and error. We are astounded
at the absurdities propounded even by those
amongst the ancients most esteemed for their
wisdom ; and what shall we say of the wild
delusion indulged in by the ignorant on the
most essential points of religion 1 But blessed
a thousand times be the charity of Christ our
Saviour, Who, having made Himself man, has
become our Master, and called us out of dark
ness into His marvellous light ! f He who
is Himself the True Light which enlighteneth
every man that cometh into the world, J has
diffused around the rays of His heavenly
wisdom, and renewed in a short time the
whole face of the earth. Taught by such a
Master, the unlearned, the ignorant are far
better instructed in what belongs to the soul,

* Matt, xxiii. 10.
t 1 Pet. ii. 9. + John i. 9.

74 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

and in what concerns God and eternity, than
the most renowned philosopher of antiquity.

Everything in those days was made matter
of dispute ; and yet, after most vehement
discussion of the fundamental maxims of
religion, even those most distinguished among
them for wisdom found themselves involved
in never-ending contradictions and obscurity.
But since Jesus Christ has appeared amongst
us, and instructed us in His heavenly doctrine,
truth has become bright, clear, and manifest,
not merely to the learned, but even to the
most unlettered, provided only they bring
with them to the study a humble and docile
heart. What ought not to be our gratitude
for so infinite a benefit.

II. " This is my beloved Son, in idiom I
am laell pleased : hear ye Him."* We have
for our Teacher, not an angel or an archangel,
but the very Son of God Himself, consub-
stantial with the Father, and made Man for
the love of us. The apostle St. Paul, speak
ing of this display of God's love to us, says,
" God, Who at sundry times, and in diverse
manners, spoke in times past to our fathers
by the prophets, last of all, in these days,
hath spoken to us by His Son." f This
divine Teacher with His own mouth instructed
us during the course of His mortal life, and

* Matt. xvii. 5, t Hebr, i. 1.

JESUS OUR MASTER. 75

now that He has withdrawn Himself from
our bodily eyes, He still continues to teach
us in many and marvellous ways, and chiefly
by means of His Church, which He has estab
lished to the end of time as the pillar and
foundation of truth. Great, then, is our hap
piness in having such a Master. Can we find,
or even imagine to ourselves, a better Master 1
For is He not the Light of the world ? Has
He not the word of eternal life1? Is not His
teaching infallible and divine? Why, then,
do we not listen with docility to His instruc
tions? Why do we not humbly submit to
His teaching? Why do we not profoundly
revere His precepts ? Ah, woe to the proud,
woe to those unhappy souls who refuse to
hearken to the sweet Teacher of wisdom.

III. " He has given to Him the science of the
saints." * What does our divine Master teach
us 1 In what science, 0 devout soul, does He
instruct His beloved? Those holy souls well
know it who enjoy the happiness of learning
in the school of Christ, and of drinking in
His heavenly doctrine. The science which He
teaches is from heaven, and is directed to
lead men thither, and to render them eternally
blessed. It is not a science which puffeth
up, but which editieth : f a science which in
spires nothing but justice and sanctity. The

* Wisd. x. 10. f 1 Cor. viii. 1.

76 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

principal points of this science are, a contempt
of the world and of its vanities, a detachment
of the heart from all created objects, the value
of suffering for justice' sake, and the strict union
of the soul with God. Its disciples are the
true children of the light, and they who oppose
it are blind in very deed, and are such as sit
in darkness and in the shadow of death. *
This is that science whereby the desert has
been peopled with solitaries, the cloisters with
religious, and the world with just men, who,
while they lived in the world according to
the body, had their heart and their conversa
tion in heaven, f Enlightened from above by
this heavenly science, virgins have kept their
pure souls spotless before God; penitents have
passed their lives in sack-cloth and ashes ;
martyrs have joyfully endured the most hor
rible torments. It is this science, in truth,
which has enriched the Church in every age
with righteous souls, and which continually
peoples paradise with the souls of the just
made perfect. Behold, then, the science which
Jesus Christ teaches to His beloved, and which
you, () devout soul, should use all diligence
to acquire. Walk, then, in the light of this
heavenly doctrine, and you too shall be num
bered amongst the children of light.

Behold, most loving Jesus, prostrate at Thy

* Luke i. 79. t Philipp. iii. 20.

JESUS OUR MASTER. 77

feet one who owns himself unworthy of the
name of Thy disciple, but who desires, never
theless, to be instructed by Thee in the science
of the saints. " Speak, Lord, for Thy servant
heareth." * Speak, Lord, and show me the
way in which I ought to walk. Speak to me,
and make me not only hear the words of
eternal life, but relish them, love them and
practise them. As Thou didst satisfy the soul
of Magdalen with the sweetness of Thy
heavenly discourse, so do Thou inebriate my
soul also with the sweet unction of Thy
Spirit. Ah ! truly, all is vanity except to
love Thee, my God, and to serve Thee alone.
Pour forth, 0 Loivl, into my heart a great
horror of the false maxims of the world, and
an intense delight in the maxims of the Holy
Gospel. Take from me all love for things
created ; take Thou entire possession of my
heart and soul. I trust to obtain grace through
Thy infinite merits, 0 sweetest Jesus, and
through thy intercession, 0 Mary, my most
amiable Mother.

EJACULATION. — Teach me, 0 Lord, help me
to become a saint.

* 1 Kings iii. 10.

78

VISIT XVII.

In which we contemplate Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament as our Leader.

I. " Behold I have given Him for a Leader
and Master to the Gentiles" * One of the
greatest privileges conferred by the Lord on
the people of Israel during their pilgrimage
through the wilderness was, that He sent His
angel before them in a pillar of cloud to lead
them during their long and perilous journey,
and at length introduced them into the land
of promise. This angel who guided the people
of Israel was but a figure of the Son of God
made Man, Jesus Christ our Lord, Who is
called by Isaias the Angel of Good Counsel,
and by Malachy the Angel of the Testament.
With the tenderest care Jesus watches over
us during our mortal pilgrimage, guiding us on
our way, and leading us at length happily into
our heavenly country. What lights and graces
does He not diffuse within our souls by means
of this Sacrament of love, and what strength
does He not impart to us by this heavenly
manna ! Oh, what a touching spectacle would
meet our gaze, were it given us to behold

* Isaias Iv. 4.

JESUS OUR LEADER. 79

unveiled, even for one moment, all that is con
tained in this sacred Host? We should see
the heart of Jesus, like a burning furnace,
inflamed with love for us, ever on the watch
to shield us from dangers, and to arm us against
our enemies, and to provide in a thousand
ways for our salvation. Oh, thrice blessed are
we, who possess in Jesus such a guide, who
not only directs us in the path, but also feeds,
sustains, and comforts us on the way, and
conducts us safely to our heavenly home !
Blessed are we, who have in Jesus such a
guide, who can not only point out the dangers
of the way, but also enable us to escape
them ! Blessed are we, who have in Jesus
Christ a captain who first combats our
enemies for us Himself, and places all His
glory in conducting us triumphantly to the land
of promise !

II. "In all tliy ways think on Him, and
He will direct thy steps" * What does a
blind man do who is so fortunate as to have
a faithful guide 1 He abandons himself en
tirely into his hands, and allows himself to be
directed as he wills. It is thus we ought to
act with Jesus. What better guide can we
desire than He 1 Let us then abandon our
selves entirely into His hands, and He will
have care of us. " Cast thy care upon the

* Prov. iii. 6.

80 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

Lord, and He shall sustain thee." * Trusting
ourselves to His guidance, we shall never err
from the right way. "He that followeth Me,"
saith the Lord, " doth not walk in darkness,
but shall have the light of life." f But woe
to us, if we abandon such a Guide to follow
the blind impulse of passion, which will most
certainly prove our ruin. " If the blind lead
the blind," says Jesus Christ, " both shall fall
into the ditch." J

III. "He that will come after Me, let lam
deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and
follow Me." || Behold, 0 devout soul, the great
sentence which is inscribed in imperishable
characters on the standard of Jesus Christ,
our Leader. Let us not, then, deceive our
selves : if we would be of Christ's company,
and have part with Him, we must before all
things crucify self-love, resist our passions, and
follow our great Captain, even to Calvary ; but
those weak souls who are sunk in softness and
effeminacy, and prefer the flowery paths of the
world to the thorny road of self-denial and of
the cross, shall have no part with Christ, how
ever great the toil and labour it may be their
lot to meet with.

Turn then, most loving Jesus, one pitying

* Psalm liv. 23.

t John viii. 12. £ Matt. xv. 14.

|j Luke ix. 23.

JESUS OUR LEADER. 81

glance upon me, call me to take my place
beneath Thy standard ; I am resolved to fol
low Thee at any sacrifice, and to follow
Thee to the end. "I will follow Thee
whithersoever Thou goest." * Dispose of me
as it seemeth good in Thy sight. I resign
myself wholly to Thy sacred will. Suffice it
for me to know that Thou lovest me. " Do

as Thou wilt, dear Lord, with me Enough

that I am loved by Thee." Thou seest, far
better than I can, all the needs of my soul.
I trust myself entirely in Thy hands. Oh, con
duct me to the portals of salvation. Like a
lost sheep, I have wandered too long afar from
Thee, my Shepherd. But, henceforth, my
only desire is to be united to Thee for ever.
Oh, strengthen by Thy grace the weakness of
my resolves, and make me to become wholly
Thine.

0 Mary, my sweetest Mother, pray for me,
obtain for me the grace to be faithful to your
divine Son.

EJACULATION. — Have pity, Lord, on me, a
wandering pilgrim upon earth, and guide me
safely to my heavenly country.

Matt. viii. 19.

82

VISIT XVIII.

In which ice consider Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament as our Physician.

I. " Jesus went about all Galilee healing

all manner of sickness and every infirmity
amongst the people" * In reading the Gospel
we are struck with astonishment at the great
number of sick and diseased persons who were
healed by our Lord. The lame, the blind,
the deaf, the palsied, the lepers, the possessed
— all, in fact, whatever their disease, found in
Jesus Christ a Physician who relieved their
infirmities and healed their sickness. But
that which He did for their bodily ailments
was but a figure of His operation on their
souls, for He purged them from their sin,
and healed them by His saving grace. How
many came to Him with souls covered with
wounds of sin, and returned from His pre
sence pure as the infant just taken from
the baptismal font ! How many were so
blessed as to hear from His sacred lips
these words of peace, "Be of good heart,
my son, thy sins are forgiven thee." f Reflect
now, 0 devout soul, that this same Jesus,

* Matt. iv. 23. t Matt. ix. 2.

JESUS OUR PHYSICIAN. 83

Who, in' the days of His life on earth, suc
coured with such benignity man's weak and
fallen state, is with us here unchanged upon
our altars, and that the love which now burns
within His sacred bosom is no less strong than
that which consumed Him during His mortal
sojourn amongst us. What may we not hope
from His inestimable bounty ? Ah, thrice
happy are we, who can fly at any moment to
our heavenly Physician, and be healed by Him
of our spiritual maladies !

II. " Those who are well have no need of a
physician, but those icho are side." * Oh, ineffa
ble goodness of our most loving Jesus ! What
more could He have done to animate our con
fidence, to encourage us to lay open our hearts
to Him, to show Him our infirmities, and to
beseech Him with loving confidence to heal
them, than to assure us with His own lips
that the physician is not for those who are
well, but for the sick ? Do not these words
contain a most consoling invitation to fly to
Him, whatever be the nature of our spiritual
miseries, together with a most ample promise
of healing them 1 Who, then, will be so
foolish as to prefer rather to continue in his
maladies, than to have recourse to this physician,
so loving and so full of pity ; to be content
to bear the burden of his infirmities, rather

* Matt. ix. 12.

84 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

than to make use of the proffered medicine.
" If thou didst know the gift of God." * Oh, if
sinners did but know that unspeakable good
which they might obtain by casting themselves
with confidence into the arms of their divine
Physician, earnestly beseeching Him to heal
the wounds of their soul, without doubt men
would hasten in crowds to prostrate themselves
before His altar, and strive who should be
first to receive from His hand the most excel
lent of gifts. But, alas for man's endless
misery and degradation ! fascinated by worldly
pleasure, he knows but little of his true good,
and therefore uses but slight endeavours to
attain it.

III. " Wilt thou be made whole ?" f Great
as is the desire of Jesus to heal our infirmities,
yet certain it is that He will not do so with
out our co-operation. As it was by our own
will that we brought this disease upon our
souls, so must our will co-operate with divine
grace for our restoration. Do we, then, sin
cerely desire to be healed 1 Let us have recourse
to our heavenly Physician. Whatever be the
grievousness of our infirmity, even were it like
that of the man sick of the palsy, who had
lain for eight-and-thirty years in that severe
state of affliction, yet will He receive us with
benignity, and accord us that which we so

* John iv. 10. t John v. 6.

JESUS OUR PHYSICIAN. 85

much desire. But, if we have not this strong
desire, and care not to beg it of God by means
of prayer, it is certain that He will never free
us from our evils. But how, 0 devout soul,
do you correspond to the bounty of your divine
Physician 1 Are you anxious to make use of
the remedies which He prescribes 1 Are you
in love with prayer and holy retirement ? Do
you frequent the sacraments devoutly 1 Do
you endeavour to keep yourself as much as
possible recollected in God 1 Do you study to
purify your intention, and to keep a diligent
guard over your heart, flying from all occasions
of sin?

Ah, behold, dear Lord, he whom Thou lovest
is sick. * Speak but one word, and my soul
shall be healed. I deserve not that Thou
shouldst heal me, it is true, but yet let Thy
infinite mercy supply for my miserable un-
worthiness. Open Thou my eyes, that I may
behold Thy light, and my ears that they
may hear Thy voice ; loosen my tongue, that
it may hymn Thy eternal praises. Wash me,
dear Lord, and make me clean from the leprosy
of sin ; quench the fire of concupiscence within
me ; deliver me from the fever of my passions.
Chastise me as Thou wilt, but take not away
Thy holy grace from me. Set free my heart
from all earthly ties, and grant that I may

* John xi. 3.

S6 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

live wholly for Thy love. Cause to descend
upon me from above Thy heavenly fire, puri
fying my soul from every stain of earth.

0 Mary, sweetest, gentlest of mothers, have
pity on me, obtain this grace for me.

EJACULATION. — Wash me, 0 Lord, from my
iniquities.

VISIT XIX.

In which we contemplate Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament as our Shepherd.

I. li I am the good Shepherd." * Amongst
the various miseries to which men were
subject before the coming of Christ, one was
that " they were as sheep not having a
shepherd. "f But from the time Jesus Christ
appeared amongst us, the state of things was
changed, for man found in Him the true Shep
herd, and one who far exceeded his expectations.
Ah, happy indeed are we who live in these blessed
days, wherein we have for our Shepherd the
uncreated Wisdom of the Father Himself,
the very Son of God made Man ! What
could we desire to find in a good shepherd
that is not most perfectly realised in Jesus ?
Is He not continually on the watch to defend

* John x. 14. t Mark vi. 34.

JESUS OUR SHEPHERD. 87

us 1 Does He not provide with anxious care
for our security ? Where shall we find a
shepherd who gives his own flesh for the food
of his flock, and his own blood to be their
drink, as Jesus does to us 1 And what shall
we say of his love for His wandering sheep,
and of His solicitude to lead them back to
the fold 1 Who could have supposed that He
would go in search of them Himself, and, hav
ing found them, would lay them on His
shoulders rejoicing ; that He would bear them
back to the fold, and feel greater joy for the
safety of the lost one than for all the rest
of the flock that went not astray 1 * Oh,
what tender charity ! what excessive love !

II. " The good Shepherd giveth His life for
His sheep" f Who is this good Shepherd
who giveth His life for His sheep, but our
most loving Jesus, who gave His very life for
our salvation 1 Ah, contemplate, 0 devout
soul, your sweet Jesus fastened to the cross,
His hands and feet transfixed by hard nails,
His side pierced by a cruel lance ; His head
lacerated with the sharpest thorns ; His face
covered with blood ; and His whole body one
vast wound ! What else but His love has
reduced Him to this pitiable condition 1 His
too great love for His sheep ! From gazing
on the cross, turn your eyes next upon this

* Luke xv. 5. t John x. 11.

88 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

Sacrament of love, and behold our infinitely
bountiful Jesus hidden beneath the Eucharistic
veil, and become for us a perpetual victim.
And what but love has reduced Him to such
a state of unspeakable abasement and im
molation — the exceeding love which He bears
for His sheep? Yes, the Divine Shepherd of
our souls sacrifices everything, He spares not
even His life for us, who are unworthy to
be called His sheep ; and can we yet live
without loving Him 1

III. " My sheep hear My voice, and I know
them, and they follow Me" * To be worthy
of being the sheep of this Divine Shepherd,
it is not sufficient to belong externally to His
fold ; but we must meekly hearken to His
voice, and faithfully follow His guidance. If
we do not this, we may indeed deceive men
and even delude ourselves, but we can have
no part or lot with Christ. Even the very
mark and character of His sheep, which was
impressed upon our souls in Holy Baptism,
will only add to our never-ending confusion
and misery. Humble yourself, then, 0 devout
soul, before the heavenly Shepherd, present
yourself before Him as one of the sheep of
His flock. Render Him thanks for having
raised you to so high a dignity, and be
seech Him never to permit you to become

* John x. 27.

JESUS OUR SHEPHERD. 89

unworthy of this grace. Tell Him that you
desire no other pastures but those with
which He feeds you in His heavenly doctrine
and chiefly in the communion of His most
sacred body. Implore Him to inflict upon
you any chastisement, to send you any tribu
lation, rather than permit you to be separated
even for a moment from Him.

Receive, dearest Lord, this soul of mine into
the number of Thy flock. Give me grace to
hearken meekly to Thy voice, and faithfully
to follow after Thy sweet guidance. What
are the pleasures of the world to me ? What
the praises of men but vanity and emptiness 1
I desire no other pasture than that which my
beloved Jesus offers me. Oh, when shall I
be able to love nothing but Thee, my
dearest Saviour 1 When shall I be able to
cling so closely to Thee that nothing may be
able ever to separate me from Thy embrace 1
Why can I not leave this body and fly to
Thy arms, my most beloved Lord 1 Oh, hasten
the hour, the blessed hour, when Thou, my
God, shalt perfectly reign in my soul, and I
shall be wholly united to Thee. Grant me this
favour, I beseech Thee, that I may be able
very often to receive Thy sacred body, and to
bathe my soul in Thy most precious blood.
Behold, I renounce all things whatsoever, if I
may but possess Thee, my most sweet Lord.

90 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

Remember me, 0 Mary, dearest of mothers.
Make me worthy to be numbered in the flock
of thy Divine Son.

EJACULATION. — Nourish, 0 Lord, my heart
and soul with the unction of Thy Spirit.

VISIT XX.

In which we contemplate Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament as our Advocate.

I. " My little children, these things I write
to you that you may not sin. But if any
man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the just.'" * Oh, with what joy
and confidence should our hearts be inspired
at these most blessed words ! What greater
comfort can we have, when we most feel our
weakness, than to know that Jesus Christ not
only assists us that we may not fall, but even
helps us to rise again when we fall, pleads
our cause before His heavenly Father, obtains
pardon for our sins, and admission once more to
His favour ? Where will the men of this
world find such an advocate to plead their
cause before the tribunals of their offended
sovereign, whose favour they desire to recover 1
But that which cannot be found amongst men,

* 1 John ii. 1.

JESUS OUR ADVOCATE. 91

we find continually in our Saviour, Jesus
Christ, Who, instead of repelling us when
we have so grievously offended God, most
graciously flies to our succour, and, if we
will but permit Him to do so, undertakes our
defence with His heavenly Father, propitiates
His offended majesty, and restores us again to
His grace. Ah, woe to those unhappy souls,
who, possessing so easy a means of returning
into the way of justice and of being reconciled
with God, yet still continue in the abyss of
sin, and in the end are lost. The very thought
that they have thrown away such a means
of salvation shall be for them a source of hor
rible torment for all eternity.

IE. " He is always living to make interces
sion for us." * The office of advocate, which
our most loving Jesus exercises in our favour,
is not restricted to any time, or to any
one class of persons ; it is perpetual, and
regards all those who have recourse to Him,
humbly imploring His grace. Carefully avoid
sin, 0 devout soul. Sin is the greatest evil,
or rather the only real evil which can befall
you. But should you ever be so unhappy as
to sin, oh, do not give way to any distrust of
the mercy of your Advocate, but fly straight
way to His holy presence, and, casting yourself
before His holy Tabernacle, heartily implore

* Heb. vii. 25.

92 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

His gracious help, and He will most certainly
hear you. Oh, how many sinners, oppressed
by the enormous weight of their sins, have
come hither, and prostrate before this throne
of grace, humbly begging forgiveness, have
found in Jesus their most merciful Advocate,
who, coming promptly to their succour, has
reconciled them with the outraged majesty of
God.

III. " Christ Jesus that died, yea, that is
risen aho again ; Who is at the right hand of
God, Who also maketh intercession for us." *
Xothing so much torments some pious souls
as the fear of being lost. What will become
of us, say they, when we have to appear before
the judgment-seat of God ] Ah, peace, happy
souls ! for even then it is with your beloved
Jesus you will have to treat. Let those indeed
fear to fall into the hands of Jesus Christ,
who obstinately continue in sin and abuse of
His goodness. But those who earnestly desire
to serve their Lord, and who, when they happen
to fall, have immediate recourse to Him for
succour, have no need to fear the moment
in which they must appear in His presence ;
rather they have good cause to look forward
to it with joy and confidence. For who is
He that shall judge them ? It is that same
Jesus Who has given His life for them;

* Rom. viii. 34.

JESUS OUR ADVOCATE. 93

yea, who has risen again, who sits at the
right hand of God, and who pleads their cause
before His Heavenly Father.

Ah ! my good Jesus, what would become
of me, if my cause were to be judged accord
ing to the rigour of Thy justice 1 Well is it for
me, indeed, that it depends on Thy mediation.
I know full well that I deserve nothing but
chastisement ; yet, trusting in Thy infinite
merits, I permit my heart to indulge in t' e most
lively hopes in Thy goodness. If my sins threaten
me with vengeance, Thy sacred wounds, Thy
blood, Thy precious death, promise me pardon.
If for my sins I have deserved death, yet
Thou, my Jesus, hast merited life for me, even
life eternal. Oh, when shall I see Thy face 1
When shall I behold Thy glory unveiled, and
return Thee worthy thanks for all the care
with which Thou hast sought my salvation 1
Oh, let me love Thee on earth, that so I may
love and glorify Thee for ever in heaven.

Pray for me, Mary, my most sweet Mother,
obtain for me this grace from thy dearest Son
Jesus.

EJACULATION. — Grant me, 0 Lord, Thy holy
grace for ever.

94

VISIT XXI.

In which we contemplate Jesus Christ in the Blessed
Sacrament as our High Prest.

I. " We have a great High Priest Jesus

the Son of God" * The Israelites thought them
selves most highly honoured in having in their
midst the temple of the Lord, the priesthood,
and the sacrifice. But far greater is our glory,
0 devout soul, in having with us Jesus Christ,
the divine High Priest, who offers continually
and in every place to His heavenly Father,
not the blood of bulls and goats, but His
own blood and His very life. Oh, stupendous
mysteries, which we witness every day upon
our altars, nothing less than the renewal and
continuation of that same sacrifice which Jesus
Christ once consummated on Mount Calvary ;
we behold our Lord offering that pure oblation
of which the prophet Malachy foretold that
it should be offered in every place, and that
the name of God should become great amongst
the Gentiles by its means, f We see, in fine,
daily perpetuated amongst us the greatest of
all the works of divine goodness.

II. " Thou art a Priest for ever after the
order of Melchisedech." J The priests of the old

* Heb. iv. H.

t Malachy i. 11. £ Heb. v. 6.

JESUS OUR HIGH PRIEST. 95

law, besides being subject as men to infirmities
and imperfections, and obliged to offer sacri
fice for their own sins, were also mortal, and
hence their priesthood was confined to the
short span of their life on the earth. But
far other is our divine High Priest, Jesus
Christ, Who is innocent, undefiled, separated
from sinners, and made higher than the heavens,
Who needeth not daily (as our priests) to offer
sacrifice first for His own sins and then for
the people's. * For He, continuing for ever,
hath an everlasting priesthood, whereby He is
able also to save for ever them that come to
God by Him. f Most blessed are we who can
at every moment have recourse to this great
High Priest, who is able at all times to lead
us to God and to save us.

III. " We have not a High Priest who
cannot have compassion on our infirmities" J
With what confidence ought these most con
soling words to fill our hearts! We have not
a Priest, says the Apostle, who has no feeling
for our infirmities ; but one who has Himself
shared all our miseries, sin only excepted.
Yes, truly does Jesus Christ know to the very
bottom all our wretchedness. He knows even
by His own experience that we are but dust
and ashes. He is not only very God, but true

* Heb. vii. 27. t Heb. vii. 24.

J Heb. iv. lo.

96 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

and perfect Man ; and as Man He has Himself
made trial of the weakness of our mortal nature.
Who then shall express the boundless com
passion and tenderness He feels for us His
miserable creatures 1 Why does not the very
thought of this make us as it were out of
ourselves for joy ? How is it that our hearts
do not bound with feelings of the most lively
joy, the most unbounded confidence in our
dearest and most loving Jesus 1 What words
can express our blessed lot 1 We have here
within this sacred Tabernacle our divine High
Priest, who cherishes in His heart at every
moment sentiments of the most tender com
passion for us, and offers up continually to His
eternal Father His blood and His very life
for our benefit. Ah, how often should we
have fallen by reason of our sins beneath the
heavy weight of the wrath of God, had not
Jesus offered Himself for us to His Father a
victim of propitiation, exhibited His wounds,
and thus disarmed the divine justice, and
obtained for us the grace of salutary penance !
What things will on that day meet our view,
when the veil which now conceals from us the
secret working of divine bounty shall be with
drawn, and we shall behold all that Jesus
Christ is now operating for our good !

0 eternal and heavenly Father, I render
Thee most hearty thanks for that Thou hast

JESUS OUR .HIGH PRIEST. 97

given to me this good High Priest, Jesus Christ
Thy Son. How manifold are the ways of salva
tion which Thou hast opened to me, 0 God of
infinite love ! If I should, alas, miserably be
lost, to what can I impute my failure but to
my own inveterate malice 1 But, 0 my good
God, this shall not be — I am resolved to avail
myself of Thy goodness, to unite myself with
Thy divine Son, my Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
Oh yes, my dearest Jesus, I desire to love
Thee, to love Thee for ever. Begone from
me, false world, I hate and abhor thy deceits.
Descend upon me, 0 heavenly fire of charity,
come and inflame my heart with love. 0
my most loving Lord, give me a heart detached
from all created things, and burning only with
Thy holy love. This grace do I ask through
the merits of Thy most sacred wounds, of
Thy most precious blood. Oh, happy should
I be could I say with Thy Apostle, "I live,
now not I ; but Christ liveth in me." *

O Mary, my well-beloved Mother, you who
desired so much to see your dear Son Jesus
loved by all, obtain for me the grace to live
and to die for His holy love.

EJACULATION. — Thou, Lord, art the God of
my heart and my portion for ever.

* Gal. ii. 20.

VISIT XXII.

In which we contemplate Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament as our Guest.

1. " My delight is to be with the children of
men." * This earth is designed by Almighty
God to furnish a temporary abode for those
who live in passible and mortal flesh. As to
those who have attained to an impassible and
immortal life, He has assigned to them an
everlasting habitation in the kingdom of eternal
glory. What, then, shall we say when we
behold Jesus, our most sweet Lord, not dis
daining to dwell here within our churches and
upon our altars, and even rinding His delight
in remaining amongst us 1 Ah, my good
Jesus, what dost Thou behold in this miserable
earth of ours, that Thou shouldst choose
it for the place of Thy sojourn 1 Art not Thou
indeed King of eternal glory 1 Is not Thy
seat in heaven surrounded with resplendent
light, and encompassed by myriads of saints
and angels, who evermore pay Thee the tribute
of their fervent homage 1 Why, then, dost
Thou come to sojourn with us in this miser
able valley of tears 1 Ah, my Jesus, I know
full well the reason of this. Thou hast on

* Prov. viii. 31.

JESUS OUR GUEST. 99

this earth objects most dear to Thy heart,
objects which Thou dost love with a most
ardent affection, and so Thou canst not remain
afar from them, and deprive these beloved
souls of Thy adorable Presence. Yes, dearest
Jesus, our souls have been bought by Thee
at the cost of Thy most precious blood, and
have become through grace Thy beloved spouses,
and do gentle violence to Thy heart, and move
Thee to come amongst us and make Thyself
our Guest.

II. " / was a stranger, and ye tool,- ntn
•in." * The love which Jesus Christ bears to
us is shown not only by His dwelling
within our churches and upon our altars,
but still more by His entering into our
very hearts, to unite our souls with Him
by means of holy communion. Wlio could
have believed in such an excess of charity,
had lie not himself beheld it ? Is it not
a subject of infinite astonishment, that the
Son of God, the King of heaven and earth,
should come to dwell within our souls, and that
we, poor wretched worms, should have the honour
of entertaining Him in our hearts 1 "What
should be our astonishment, our gratitude, our
love, at being permitted to receive such a Guest 1
If St. Elizabeth was struck with awe at seeing
the Mother of her God condescend to enter

* Matt, xxv, 3o.

100 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

her humble dwelling, what ought to be our
feelings when we behold Jesus Christ, true
God and true Man, deign to unite Himself
to us, and to enter within our very bosom 1
III. " Open to me, my love, my dove, my
luidefiled" * Oh, ineffable bounty of Jesus
towards us, His miserable creatures ! He is
not satisfied to take up His abode amongst us,
to be always at hand to communicate Himself
to our souls ; He even invites us to come to
Him, and, as it were, entreats us to give Him
a dwelling-place in our hearts. " I stand at
the door of thy heart," says Jesus in the
Sacrament of love, " and I knock : if any
man then shall hear My voice, and open to Me
the door, I will come in to him and will sup
with him, and he with Me." j Oh, words of
wondrous import ! Man is so mean a thing
in respect of God, that if he only knew his
own profound baseness and the divine great
ness, he would be wholly lost in the con
templation, and would never know how to
humble himself enough in the sight of the
divine majesty, not daring even to lift his
eyes to heaven. What shall we say, then,
when we behold this same infinite majesty not
only abasing Himself so far as to dewll amongst
us, miserable worms of the earth, and com
municate Himself to our souls, but even

* Cant. v. '2. t Apoc. iii. 20.

JESUS OUR GUEST. 101

earnestly longing to enter into our hearts, and
entreating us to receive Him T What created
mind, I say not of men, but even of angels, can
comprehend such an infinite excess of love 3
Can we even think of it without being moved
to tenderness, and our hearts being inflamed by
the fire of Jesus' sacred charity 1 Can we
remain insensible when we reflect on this
stupendous, this ineffable prodigy of divine
bounty ? Jesus demands an entrance into our
hearts, and we close the door upon Him, that
we may give a ready entrance to sin.

0 my Lord, soften by Thy grace this
hardened heart, and melt it with the flame
of Thy sweet charity. I am indeed most
unworthy to receive Thee within my heart,
but since Thou Thyself desirest to enter
there, confiding in that same infinite bounty,
I will approach to receive Thee as often as
possible in Holy Communion, I will place all
my delight in being constantly united with
Thee. Come then, I beseech Thee, Jesus, my
sweetest Lord, come and dwell within my
soul, and make there Thy eternal resting-place.
I desire nothing on this earth but to please
Thee, and to enjoy without ceasing Thy ador
able presence. Come into my soul, dear Lord,
and enrich it with Thy graces. When Thou
didst enter into the house of Zacchoeus, Thou
didst spread around Thy heavenly benediction :

102 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

Oh, do the same when Thou enterest the
dwelling of my soul, speak to me as Thou
didst then vouchsafe to speak : " This day is
salvation come to this house." *

0 Mary, Mother most dear, obtain for me
the grace to make ready a dwelling worthy of
Thy divine Son, that He may come and in-
flanie me wholly with His sacred love.

EJACULATION. — Come, Lord, and sanctify my
soul.

VISIT XXIII.

In which we contemplate Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament as our Pattern.

I. " Look and make all according to the
pattern" j* When the Lord commanded Moses
to make the Tabernacle, He showed him first
the model, and then told him to make all
things according to the pattern He had shown
him. Just as the Lord showed to Moses the
pattern of the Tabernacle, so does He now
continually present to us, in His only-begotten
Son Jesus Christ, a divine form and model,
commanding us to conform ourselves to Him,
and to produce in our souls a copy as much

* Luke xix. 9. t Exocl. xxv. 40.

JESUS OUR PATTERN. 103

like the original as possible. This is my
beloved Son," God has declared from heaven,
" in whom I am well pleased. If, then, you
desire to have part in My love, and to obtain
salvation, be sure that you clothe yourselves
in His livery, that you imbibe His Spirit,
that you follow His maxims, and copy His
life. But, if you do not carry engraved on
your soul the copy of this heavenly model, if
I do not see there the likeness of My only
begotten Son, I will certainly turn away from
you as unworthy of My love, and meriting
only My indignation.

II. " Whom He foreknew, He also pre
destinated to be made conformable to the
image of His So?i." * Of what avail is it
to us to be anxious about our future lot ?
Let us only endeavour to become like Jesus,
and we shall certainly be saved. But, if we
do not study to attain this conformity, then,
indeed, may we tremble. Heaven is filled
with saints of every sex, and age, and clime,
of every condition and manner of education ;
but there is not one saint in heaven who is
not perfectly conformed to the likeness of
Jesus Christ. Hell is filled with the souls
of the reprobate, for ever wailing in incessant
torments : but, amidst all that multitude
of reprobate beings, there is not one who

* Rom, viii. 29,

104 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

bears in his soul the slightest likeness to
Jesus Christ. Let us not, then, deceive our
selves : Jesus Christ is the great model of the
elect, to whom all who desire to be saved
must conform themselves. If, at our departure
from this world, our life is found conformable
to His, the heavenly Father will recognise us
as His own, and will call us into His eternal
kingdom of bliss ; but if, to our everlasting
shame, we are found unlike this heavenly
model, the divine Father will banish us for
ever from His presence, and remove all His
graces from us.

III. " / have given you an example, that
as I have done to you, so do you also"*
Whom must we imitate 1 Our Saviour, Jesus
Christ, is our model, 0 devout soul. He is
our most loving Father, our most sweet
Spouse ; he walks securely who treads in His
sacred footsteps. Whither does His example
lead us, except to unite ourselves to God, and
to gain eternal happiness in Him ? At the
hour of death what will it profit us to have
followed the maxims and usages of the world,
except to pierce our hearts with unavailing
anguish, and to open to us the gates of
eternal perdition ? On the other hand, how
great will be our consolation if we have re
mained throughout faithful to Jesus Christ,

* John xiii. 15.

JESUS OUR PATTERN. 105

and formed our lives after His example. Ah,
truly, all is vanity except to unite ourselves
to Jesus Christ, and to imitate Him alone.
But, 0 devout soul, how do you endeavour to
reproduce in yourself this divine model 1 Do
you bear your cross with patience 1 Do you
despise the world and its vanities ? Do you
keep your flesh under due restraint 1 Do you
watch over your heart with all diligence 1 Do
you wage continual war on your disorderly
affections and vices ? Are you detached from
creatures 1 Is it your constant aim to do
everything from the sole motive of pleasing
God 1 Are you ready to suffer any pain,
to make any sacrifice whatever, rather than
offend God1? In fine, do you love your
Lord not in word only, but in deed and in
truth?

I render Thee thanks, my dearest Lord,
because Thou hast left me in Thy own life
a model of all perfection and sanctity. It
grieves me to my very heart that I have so
often lost sight of this divine Model, living,
as I have done, according to my own incli
nations, and following my own caprice. Oh,
by that love which moved Thee to give Thy
life for me upon the cross, by that charity
which induced Thee to take up Thy dwelling
amongst us in this Sacrament of love, give
me grace henceforth to detach my heart from

10G DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

fill worldly vanity, and to think only of follow
ing Thy sacred footsteps, and of copying in my
life Thy heavenly example. I renounce now
and for ever the pleasures of this world ; my
only desire is to be united to Thee, and to
conform as much as possible my life to Thine.
Give me, dear Lord, I beseech Thee, to glory
only in Thy cross, and to desire only to
possess Thy holy love.

Pray for me, sweetest Mary, obtain for me
the grace to conform my life in all things to
that of Thy divine Son. I desire to love
nothing but Jesus, and Jesus crucified.

EJACULATION. — 0 sweet Heart of my Jesus,
make me to love Thee more and more.

VISIT XXIV.

In which we contemplate Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament as our Food.

I. " My Fledi i$ meat indeed, and my
Blood i* drinlc indeed" * Amongst the many
prodigies which the Lord worked in favour
of His ancient people during the pilgrimage
to the land of promise, one of the greatest
was that in which He provided them with
food and drink, causing the marina to rain

* John vi, 56,

JESUS OUR FOOD. 107

down from heaven, and streams to How from
the flinty rock. But far greater is that prodigy
which He operates daily in our behalf, O
devout soul, in providing us during the days
of our pilgrimage to our heavenly country,
not with corruptible food and drink, but with
a heavenly and incorruptible bread, and a
drink which never faileth, the very body
and blood of His only-begotten Son, Jesus
Christ. Who can comprehend the excess
of love contained in this mystery of faith 1
Who could have believed that the love of
Jesus Christ for us would lead Him even to
give His own flesh for our nourishment, and
for our drink His own most precious blood ?
Ves, that which it would have seemed almost
madness even to imagine, we see daily before
our eyes, and we have it in our power to par
take of this Food as often as we will. " Take
ye and eat," said this most loving Saviour to
Mis disciples on that blessed night when He
first instituted this Sacrament of love ; " Take
ye and eat, this is My body. — Take ye
and drink, this is my blood." * Some may
envy the happy lot of the apostles, who
enjoyed in a visible manner the adorable
presence of Jesus Christ. But far preferable
is our happiness in having Him always present

* Matt. xxvi. 26.

108 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

with us in this divine Sacrament, and being
able every day to receive Him into our hearts
as the food and support of our souk

II. " He hath made a remembrance of His
wonderful works, being a merciful and gracious
Lord ; He hath given food to them that fear
Him" * Truly great are the marvels which
the Lord works for our love, both in the
order of nature and of grace. But the greatest
of all these is the institution of the most
Holy Eucharist, by means of which He be
comes our food — Jesus Himself our spiritual
nourishment. What greater treasure could He
give us in this life than that which we have
in this divine Sacrament1? "Oh, wonder of
wonders ! Father Paul Segneri would exclaim
after communion ; " A God to me ! a God to
me!" And St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi declared
that a soul after communion might truly say,
" It is finished." Jesus Christ, after communi
cating Himself to my soul, has no more to
give me ; He has in a manner exhausted all
the treasures of His infinite riches.

III. " Come ye and eat my bread, and drink
the wine ivhich I have mingled for you." f
Great and costly was the feast which King
Assuerus made for his nobles and the great
men of his kingdom. But greater and more
costly far is that feast which our divine

* Psalm ex. 4. t Prov. ix. 5.

JESUS OUR FOOD. 109

Saviour, the King of heaven and earth, con
tinually makes for us in the most Holy
Eucharist. That with which the table of
Christ is provided, is no earthly and perish
able food, but divine and heavenly ; it is no
thing less than His own most pr> cious body
and blood. Nor is this banquet spread only
for some days or even years, but for all years
and all time, even to the end of the world.
The guests at this banquet are not the great
ones of the earth, " or the subjects of one
nation only, but all Christians are called to
partake of it, whatever their condition, or
wheresoever they dwell. Whoever has the
nuptial robe of charity is welcome to the
table of Jesus Christ. But, 0 devout soul, how
have you corresponded to this goodness which
Jesus has shown you 1 What could He have
done more to oblige us to love Him, than
thus give Himself to us in this Holy Sacra
ment 1 And after this can you bear to live
and not give yourself wholly to Him 1 Can
you live any longer without consecrating your
whole heart to His love ? Jesus Christ invites
you to feed upon His most sacred body, and
can you dare to refuse His invitation, and to
fill yourself with the filth of the earth? He
constrains you to approach His table, and
there partake of the food of life, and are you
so blind as to keep aloof from Him, and

110 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

to feed yourself with the bread of death 1
Ah no, Jesus, my dearest Lord, never let
me thus turn my back on Thy love. If, in
times past, I have, alas ! responded to Thy
goodness only by ingratitude, I am now re
solved to be wholly Thine. How blessed is
my lot, to be thus permitted to feed upon
Thy most sacred body ! I renounce for ever
the pleasures which the world oifers to her
votaries. I ask no other happiness than to
unite myself with Thee, often to approach Thy
table, and there to feed on that bread of life
which is the delight and the support of the
elect. Let others love and seek after earthly
delights ; for me, I will place all my happiness
in loving Thee, my God. Yes, dearest Jesus,
Thou shalt be for ever the God of my heart
and my every Good. Confirm and strengthen
by Thy grace my weak resolves, permit me
not at any time to be separated from Thee.
And, 0 Mary, my sweetest Mother, to you
I commend myself. I pray you to unite me
closely to your Divine Son.

EJACULATION. — My Jesus, nourish my soul
with Thy own most sacred body.

Ill

VISIT XXV.

In which we contemplate, Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament as our Life.

I. " I >im the Way, the Truth, and the
Life." * Jesus is the AVay, and we cannot
otherwise reach our heavenly country than by
following the path trodden by His sacred
footsteps. He is the Truth, and we cannot
otherwise obtain salvation than by following
His holy maxims. He is, moreover, the Life,
and in no other way can we gain the kingdom
of glory than by living in Him and by Him.
"lam the True Vine," He said to His dis
ciples, "and my Father is the Husbandman;

abide in Me and I in you. As the branch

cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the
vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
I am the Vine, and ye are the branches ; he
that abideth in Me and I in him, the same
boareth much fruit, for without Me you
can do nothing." f Ah ! why is it that
men, who so eagerly desire life, do not unite
themselves to Christ, who alone can give
them life 1 Be not so miserably deceived.
The goods which seem so tempting, and which

* John xiv. 6. t John xv. 1, 4, 5.

112 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

you with so much ardour desire and seek
after, far from being the source of life, only
fill your heart with poisoned waters, and lead
you to a miserable end.

II. " The bread which I will give is my
flesh fur the life of the world" * Great in
deed was the malice wherewith the devil
sought to destroy mankind, but greater still
is the goodness wherewith Jesus Christ
seeks to save them. The devil despoiled our
first parents of the supernatural life of grace,
and plunged them with their posterity into
an abyss of evil, when he persuaded them to
eat the forbidden fruit. Jesus Christ, on the
contrary, preserves and continually increases
the spiritual life of grace in our souls, and
replenishes them with every kind of good
by the reception of His sacred body and His
most precious blood. " The bread which I will
give," says Jesus from the sacred Tabernacle,
"is My flesh for the life of the world. The
people of Israel did eat manna in the desert
and are dead ; he that eateth this bread shall
not die for ever. As the Father hath sent
Me, and I live by the Father, even so he
that eateth Me, shall live by Me. My flesh
is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.
If ye eat not the flesh of the Son of Man,
and drink not His blood, ye shall have no

* John vi. 52.

JESUS OUR L1FK. 113

life in you, He that eateth my flesh and
drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I
will raise him up at the last day." Who then
will be so cruel towards his own soul as to
choose to nourish himself with filth and ordure,
when he may have for his portion the food
of Paradise ? Who so blind as to give him
self up a prey to death, when he might eat
the bread of eternal life at will?

III. " Tliey have left Me, the fountain of
living water, and have dug for themselves
broken cisterns" * They who turn their back
upon the fountain of life, and dig for themselves
impure and broken cisterns, are those who
abandon Christ to live after the dictates of their
own miserable passions. What madness ! What
blindness of heart ! What more could they
have done, if instead of eternal life eternal
death were to be their end 1 Ah, would that
their number were but small ! would that few
might incur this terrible ruin ! but, alas ! these
miserable beings abound on all sides ; and thus,
accursed world, thou ruinest so many poor
souls, created to live eternally with Christ in
heaven.

Behold me prostrate at Thy feet, my dearest
Jesus. I adore Thee as the Author of my
life. I render Thee heartfelt thanks for all
Thy numberless benefits, but more especially

* Jer. ii. 13.

114 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

because Thou hast borne with me so patiently
whilst I have been walking in the way of
perdition, and hast now given me grace again
to enter into the way of life. Where should
I now be, hadst Thou taken me out of this
world when I was Thy enemy ? Ah ! I should
long since have been in the kingdom of
eternal death, and condemned everlastingly to
those dismal regions. For ever blessed be Thy
infinite goodness, which has thus borne with
me, and again conducted me back into the
path of safety. Oh, permit not, I beseech Thee,
dearest Lord, that I should ever again fall into
that dreadful state of shame and ruin. I desire
nothing but Thy love ; to be united inseparably
to Thee ; and to be Thine wholly and for ever.
What have I to do with worldly satisfactions
and delights ? Thou only, my Jesus, art my
true delight, my happiness, my glory, and my
every good. Come then, dear Jesus, into this
soul of mine, visit me often by Thy grace,
give me to live a divine life in Thee.

I fly to Thy patronage, 0 holiest and sweetest
Mother, preserve my soul from eternal death.

EJACULATION. — -0 Jesus, Life of my soul,
guide me to the mansions of the blest who
live in Thee.

115

VISIT XXVI.

In which we contemplate Jesus Christ in the Blessed
Sacrament as our Comforter.

I. " His conversation hath no bitterness, nor
His company any tedioutmess, but joy and glad
ness." * Although Jesus Christ allows souls
beloved by Him to be tried by many and
grievous crosses, yet He fails not to relieve
them in their afflictions, and to make them
taste from time to time the dew of His heavenly
consolation. How great is the sweetness, O
Lord, which Thou hast prepared for those that
fear Thee, f said the prophet David. In the
world, where men delight only in the pleasures
of sense, it is scarcely believed that souls whirh
love God and fear the least defilement of sin
more than death itself can enjoy any real
pleasure whatever. But what would be the
astonishment of worldlings if it were given
them to see the interior of these souls, and to
behold the calm sweetness, peace and joy which
their heavenly Spouse in the midst of all
their crosses bestows upon them ! Ah no, to
converse with God is no cause of sadness ;

* NVisd. vii. 16. t Psalm xxx. 20.

116 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

nor does communion with Him bring with it
weariness and satiety ; here on the contrary
is the very source of all happiness and joy.

II. " Come unto Me all ye that labour and
are he^cy burdened, and I will refresh you" *
Who is it that thus sweetly invites us, and makes
this most consoling promise 1 Who is it that
calls us to Him, that He may comfort us in
our tribulation and relieve our afflictions? Is
it some great sovereign of this earth, or an
angel of heaven 1 Ah, for ever praised and
blessed be the infinite bounty of our most
loving Saviour! How consoling to us should
be the thought that in this our miserable exile,
in this vall"y of tears, in the tempestuous sea
of life, we have ever with us Jesus Christ, the
God of all consolation, and that we can always
have recourse to Him, and be relieved by Him
in all our miseries. Are our tribulations great
and our afflictions heavy upon us 1 Let us
lly with confidence to the throne of grace, and
Jesus, our sweetest Jesus, will take pity on
us and comfort us. " Come unto me," saith
Jesus, from yonder sacred tabernacle, " draw near
to me all ye that are oppressed, are burdened,
are afflicted, and I will comfort you, I will
console you, I will give you rest. I have here
the medicine which heals every disease. Come,
then, to My bosom, and I will heal your

* Matt. xi. 28.

JESUS OUR COMFORTER. 117

wounds ; come to My heart, and I will pour
into your soul the sweet balsam of my con
solation."

III. " 0 taste and see that the Lord is
sweet" * What fruit do worldlings draw from
earthly pleasures 1 Alas ! unhappy souls, in
stead of deriving from them the satisfaction
they expect, they find in the end nothing but
bitterness and affliction of spirit. Far different
is the lot of those who love God ; they find
in Jesus the source of all their consolation.
<; Happy, thrice happy day," exclaimed St.
Austin, " when I turned to thee, 0 ancient
Beauty ever new, when I emptied my heart
of the false delights of this world, and Thou
didst enter there instead, and didst spread abroad
a sweetness which knows no equal. 0 ye
men who groan under the oppressive burden
of this world's miseries, why do you not fly
to the fountain of every good1? Why do you
not seek comfort from Jesus? Ah, leave once
and for ever the ways of sin ; cast yourself
into Jesus' arms ; unite yourself to Him, and
you shall quickly perceive the sweetness, the
consolation which He will infuse into your
heart. Approach His table, take His flesh for
your nourishment, and therein you shall find
the remedy of all your ills. For the food with
which that table is spread is the Food of Paradise,

* Psalm xxxiii. 9.

118 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

which exceeds in sweetness all the choicest
delights this world can afford." " No tongue,"
says St. Thomas, " can express the sweetness
of that Divine Sacrament. Enough that
there we drink of sweetness in its very
source."

How lovely are Thy tabernacles, 0 Lord of
hosts ! My soul longeth and fainteth for the
courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh
have rejoiced in the Living God. Thy altars,
0 Lord, are Thy throne, my King and my
God. * Blessed are they that dwell in Thy
house, 0 Lord : they shall praise Thee for ever
and ever. Far better is one day spent in Thy
house, than thousands in the tents of the
impious. I have chosen to be an abject in
the house of my God, rather than to dwell in
the tabernacles of sinners. Turn into bitter
ness, I beseech Thee, 0 Lord, every earthly
delight ; make me to desire no other pleasure
than to love Thee with my whole heart. O
Thou, who art the Comforter of the afflicted,
the Consoler of the sorrowful, pour upon my
soul the unction of Thy Spirit, fill my soul
with a holy peace and calm. I ask this
grace of Thee, through the merits of Thy most
holy wounds, of Thy most bitter passion.
Vouchsafe to me one look of compassion.
Mary, my Mother and most sweet advocate,

* Psalm Ixxxiii,

JESUS OUR COMFORTER. 119

obtain for me the grace evermore to love thy
divine Son.

EJACULATION. — 0 Jesus, comforter of the
sorrowful, relieve my soul in its affliction.

VISIT XXVII.

In which ivc contemplate Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament as OKI' Sanctifier.

I. " Christ loved the Church, and delivered
Himself up for it, that He might sanctify it."*
Wherefore did Jesus permit Himself to be
nailed like a malefactor to the cross, render
ing up His life amidst a sea of torments ?
Wherefore does He continue still to offer
upon our altars this great sacrifice to His
Eternal Father *? Why does He remain within
this sacred Tabernacle, and there receive us
into His presence with such unspeakable
benignity ? Why does that sacred heart so
burn to communicate Itself to us 1 Ah, if
Christians only knew the reason of this,
doubtless they would desire their sanctification
far more earnestly than they do at present.
The great object which the heart of Jesus
ever had in view in all He did and
suffered, was our sanctification. Christ loved

* Eph. v. 25, 26.

120 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

His Church, says the Apostle, and offered
Himself up for its sanctification. He gave
Himself for us, that He might redeem us
from all iniquity, and might cleanse to Him
self a people acceptable, a pursuer of good
works.* Oh, marvellous inventions of charity !
Shall we esteem our sanctification so little
as to neglect it for the false joys of this
earth 1 Jesus Christ, true God and true Man,
sacrificed Himself for us, and thought His
blood and life well spent for our salvation ;
and yet we regard Him with indifference, and
we think it too much to renounce our passions,
to sacrifice our disorderly affections, and even
use every effort to gratify them. Jesus Christ
dwells continually with us, and communicates
Himself to our souls, to sanctify them ; and
we live, alas ! forgetful of our sanctification, and
wholly given up to the vanities of this world.
II. " Jesus Christ, Who of God is made
unto us Wisdom, and Justice, and Sanctifica
tion" f Jesus Christ works our sanctification
in many ways, but chiefly by means of the
most Holy Eucharist. Whence did the early
Christians draw that fervour of charity which
astounded even their enemies, if not from
frequent and daily participation of this Sacra
ment of love ? J Whence did the Martyrs

* Tit. ii 14.
t 1 Cor. i. 30. J Acts ii. 42.

JESUS OUR SANCTIFIER. 121

draw that heroic faith and courage which
filled their persecutors with wonder, but from
this food of Paradise, which they received to
prepare themselves for martyrdom? Where
does Jesus Christ diffuse the heavenly fire of
His love in greatest measure 1 Is it not in
this divine Sacrament, wherein He resides in
person, and communicates Himself most inti
mately to our souls 1 What souls have ever
approached devoutly to that heavenly table,
and have not returned from it renewed in
spirit and replenished with strength to tread
the path of sanctity ? We read that the
prophet Elias, having eaten of the bread
brought to him by the hand of the angel,
felt himself so invigorated that he continued
his journey for forty days and nights to the
top of the mountain of the Lord. " He went

on the strength of that food to Horeb, the

mount of God."* That which befel the
prophet Elias was only a figure of what hap
pens continually to so many Christians who
partake worthily of this heavenly food, and
who are able, in the strength which they
here receive, to ascend with ease the mountain
of perfection. How blessed, then, is our lot,
who have continually with us in this divine
Sacrament a source of inexhaustible light,
strength, and holiness !

* 3 Kings xix. 8.

122 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

III. " Be ye. holt/, because I am holy." *
Behold, 0 devout soul, what your most loving
Jesus expects at your hands. He expects
you to co-operate faithfully with His graces,
to correspond with His bounty, and to attend
seriously to the great work of your own
sanctification. As He Himself is holy, so
does He desire that souls beloved by Him
should strive with earnestness to attain to
holiness. And what are we aiming at if we
are not really desirous of becoming Saints ?
"What would it profit us to gain the whole
world, if we should be eternally lost ? Truly,
all is vanity and illusion, except to love
God and serve Him alone. Let us, then, cast
oft' our tepidity, let us rouse ourselves to
holy fervour, let us consecrate ourselves to the
love of Jesus Christ. Do we suppose that
those souls which have attained the highest
pitch of sanctity were perfect from the first 1
No, truly ; they were once as weak and imper
fect as we are ourselves, but, little by little,
Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament drew them to
to Himself, and made them saints. What
then hinders us from becoming saints "? " If
these were able, who were weak men and
women, like ourselves," as St. Augustine
would say, " what hinders me 1" Have we not
on our altars the same Jesus who formed the

* Levit. xi. 44.

JESUS OUR 8ANCTIFIER. 123

delight of their hearts 1 And is He not ever
ready to communicate to us the same graces
which He imparted to them ? Can we not
fly to Him, unite ourselves to Him, and receive
Him frequently into our breasts, as they did 1
Ah, woe to us, if, instead of following them
in the way of sanctity, we allow ourselves to
be overcome by our own tepidity and sloth !

I render Thee eternal thanks, most loving
Jesus, for Thy infinite bounty in suffering so
many pains, and working such marvels for
our sanctification. Oh, how does it grieve me
that I have hitherto corresponded so ill with such
unspeakable graces ! But now I am resolved
to direct all my efforts to become a saint.
Draw me, dear Lord, to Thee, and inflame
me with Thy holy love. As the hart panteth
after the fountains of water, so longeth my
soul after Thee, 0 God, * my only Good.
Let others have the goods of this earth ; for
me, I have no desire but to unite myself
most closely with Jesus, and to be His own
for ever. Pour forth into my soul, dear
Lord, Thy divine Spirit : make me a perfect
victim of Thy love. Happy should I be,
could I detach myself wholly and for ever
from all things of this earth, to attend only
to the love of my God.

0 Mary, my sweetest Mother, pray for me

* Psalm xli. 2.

124 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

obtain for me the grace to live and to die,
loving only Thy dearest Son Jesus Christ.

EJACULATION. — 0 Jesus, Sanctifier of souls,
sanctify this soul of mine.

VISIT XXVIII.

In which we contemplate Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament as our Judge.

I. " If is He who was appointed by God to le
Judge of the living and dead" * Jesus Christ
remains at present on our altars hidden beneath
the Eucharistic species, and intent only on
pouring forth upon us the treasures of His
grace. But the day will come when He will
draw aside the veil which now conceals Him
from our sight, and will present Himself to
our eyes, refulgent with excess of light, in all
the brightness of His glory. " They shall see
the Son of Man," as He Himself declares,
" coming in the clouds with great power and
majesty." f On that day we shall behold Him
descending from the highest heavens, seated
on a white and shining cloud, full of majesty
and glory, surrounded by myriads of angels
and of saints, coming to judge all the nations
of the earth. Now He inspires no other feelings

* Acts x. 42. t Luke xxi 27.

JESUS OUtt JUDGE. 125

than those of sweetness and tenderness; but
then His presence will strike us with fear
and trembling. Now He shows forth only the
kingdom of His mercy ; but then the day of
His justice will have come. For " then shall
He render to every man according to His
works." *

IT. " We must all be manifested before the
judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may
receive the proper things of the body, according
as he hath done, whether it be good or evil." f

How can we reflect on these words without
feeling in our hearts a deep contempt of all
the things of this earth, and a most lively
desire of becoming saints 1 What a spectacle
will that day disclose ! As we hive been
redeemed by the blood of Christ, so must we
appear one day before His tribunal to answer
for the use or the abuse we have made of
His most sacred blood, shed for us. Whatever
be the road in which we are walking on this
earth, we must at last arrive before the judg
ment-seat of Christ, we must meet the piercing
eye of the all-seeing Judge, and give an account
of all the good or evil we have done, and
hear from His divine lips the tremendous
sentence which will decide our lot for all
eternity. (.) my God, what will then become
of us 1 Shall we be found on Thy right hand

* Rom. ii. 6. t 2 Cor. v. 10.

1*26 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

or on Thy left ? Shall we have place among
the spotless lambs of Jesus Christ, or shall
we be numbered amongst the outcast goats of
Satan ? Shall we be associated to the glorious
army of the elect, or the infamous multitude
of the reprobate? Shall we behold Jesus
Christ with eyes of tenderness and love, or
with horror and despair1? Shall we hear from
his lips the sentence of salvation or of condem
nation 1 What would be our fate were we at
this moment presented before that terrible
tribunal '? What if Jesus were now to draw
aside the veil wherewith He conceals Himself
in this Sacrament of love, and from being
our most tender Advocate become at once
our Almighty Judge? Who could then
absolve us, if He should condemn us ? Oh,
if our conscience tells us that we should then
be condemned, let us lose no time, but
instantly set our hand to the work of saving
our soul ! What pains should we not take to
secure the prosperous issue of a law-suit on
which our honour, our fortune, or our life
might depend ! And are we, then, only
negligent when there is question of securing
a happy issue to that dread sentence on
which our eternal salvation or misery de
pends 1 Oh, let us profit by the goodness
of Jesus Christ, while yet He gives us
time ; let us walk in the light while yet it

JESUS OUR JUDGE. 127

shines upon us ; let us not wait till the time
of darkness has come. It is yet in our power
to choose whether we will be found on the
right hand or the left of the Judge ; let us
unite ourselves closely to Jesus, and all shall
be well. But in that tremendous day this
will not be in our power ; it will then be too
late when we shall be called before the dread
tribunal. Then mercy will be silent, and
justice only will be heard. Then happy will
he be who has done good in his lifetime ; but
misery and damnation shall be the portion of
the wicked.

I IT. " Behold the Judge standetli before the
door." * When shall we be called to appeal-
before Christ's judgment-seat? When shall
we be carried before His terrible tribunal 1 Let
us be always ready, for that tremendous day
may surprise us at any instant. "Be ye ready,"
saith Jesus Christ, " for at what hour you
think not the Son of Man will come." f "I
will come to thee as a thief, and thou shalt
not know at what hour I will come to thee." J
" Blessed is that servant, whom His Lord when
He cometh shall find watching."

Behold me, dearest Lord, prostrate at Thy
feet. T am unworthy to be called Thy son,
yet it grieves me to my heart that I have

* James v. 9.
t Luke xii. 40. * Apoc. iii. 3.

128 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

offended Thee ; most humbly I implore Thy
pardon. Oh, deal not with me after the measure
of my offences, but according to the multitude
of Thy mercies. Grant me pardon of my sins
before the day of vengeance comes, and give
me grace to love Thee above all things. Re
member, I beseech Thee, that if Thou shalt
hereafter be my judge, Thou art now my most
amiable Saviour and most beloved Spouse.
Remember that I am the work of Thy hands,
the price of Thy blood. Turn upon me Thy
most pitying eyes, look upon me as Thou didst
look upon the penitent Magdalen, and save
me. Thrice blessed shall I be if on that great
and terrible day, when Thou shalt come to
judge all nations of the earth, I shall be found
amongst the elect on Thy right hand, to enjoy
the sweetness of Thy countenance, and listen
to the words of grace which proceed from Thy
most sacred lips ! Afflict me now as Thou wilt,
chastise me in this life, but permit me not to
lose Thee for eternity.

Mary, my sweetest Mother, have compassion
on me ; recommend me to thy Son.

EJACULATION. — 0 Jesus, may I find Thee
sweet and merciful when Thou shalt come to
judge my soul.

129

VISIT XXIX.

In which we contemplate, Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament as our Glorifier.

I. "To him that shall overcome, / will
give to sit with me on My throne : as 7 also have
overcome, and am sat down with My Father
on His throne." * Our life on this earth is a
continual warfare, f Who can count the
enemies that surround us, and their manifold
assaults upon us 1 On one side we have the
infernal spirits using every endeavour to make
us sin, and to render us subject to their power ;
again we have the world, which leaves nothing
untried to corrupt our heart and enslave it to
its own false maxims. Here we are assaulted
by the flesh, lying in wait to seduce us with
its deceitful baits, and to draw us into the
abyss of crime ; there our own self-love does
all it can to separate us from God, and to
make us live after the desires of our own pas
sions. We find ourselves, in fine, as in a
field of battle, surrounded on every side by
enemies. Yet let us not be cast down, but

* Apoc. iii. 21. t Job vii. 1.

I

130 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

rather rejoice and take fresh courage, since,
if we fight with valour the battles of the Lord,
we shall without doubt receive the crown of
victory. Let us rejoice, because Jesus, Who is
now our Leader, will bring us at length into
His kingdom in triumph, and will make us sit
with Him on a throne of glory for endless
ages. Let us rejoice, knowing that if we follow
Jesus now in the way of humiliation, we shall
also follow Him into the place of His triumph ;
if we are companions of His pains, we shall be
also of His consolation ; if we partake of His
sufferings, we shall in like manner partake of
His glory. " The world shall rejoice, but you
shall be sorrowful," He says to us from the
holy Tabernacle, — " but your sorrow shall be
turned into joy." * Xow you weep, but
the day will come when He shall wipe
away all tears from your eyes, and there
shall be no more weeping, but you shall rejoice
for an endless eternity. Now, indeed, you
groan beneath the Aveight of a fragile and
mortal body, but the day will come in which
He shall re-form this body, communicating to
it a ray of His own effulgence, whereby it
shall shine like the sun in its strength ; " for
this corruptible must put on incorruption, and
this mortal must put on immortality." f
" To him that overcometh," says our sweet

* John xvi. 20. f 1 Cor. xv. 53.

JESUS OUR GLORIFIER. 131

Jesus, " I will give to eat of the fruit of the
tree of life. To him will I give the hidden
manna, which no man knoweth but he that
receiveth it. He that overcometh shall be
clothed in white, and I will confess his name
before God and His angels. Him that over
cometh I will make to become a pillar in the
temple of my God. I will make him" to sit
with Me upon my throne, even as I also
have overcome, and am sat down on my
Father's throne." * Why are we not wholly in
flamed with sacred fervour at these holy words 1
Do we not feel a new ardour enkindled within
us to fight valiantly against our enemies ?
What matters it if the combat be long and
arduous, when our fidelity will be so amply
rewarded 1 What are all our present sufferings
when compared with the joy which shall here
after be given us 1 Let us then for a while
sustain the fight, for after the battle comes
the victory. Let us bear patiently the mo
mentary tribulations of this life, and we shall
quickly be repaid by an eternal weight of
glory in heaven, f

II. "/ am thy reward exceeding great" J
What would be our emotions of joy and love, if
it were given us to behold unveiled Jesus Christ
hidden in this Adorable Sacrament ! If the

* Apoc. ii. 17 ; iii. 5, 12, 21.
t 2 Cor. iv. 17. £ Genes, xv. 1.

132 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

three disciples who were present at the Trans
figuration were ravished out of themselves when
they beheld in part only the splendour of His
body, what would be our transports could we
fix our eyes, not on the body only, but on
the most holy soul of Christ, and on His
Divinity Itself, and admire all the splendours
of that ineffable glory 1 If some souls have
not known how to contain themselves for the
joy they felt in contemplating the perfections
of their Spouse, seen by them only with the
eyes of faith, what excess of joy would be
ours, were it given us to behold Him face to
face in the full splendour of His glory 1 What
would be the transport of our heart at
the sight of such unspeakable beauty and
perfection? What would be our astonish
ment and wonder at the sight of that throne
of purest light, on which He sits surrounded
by angels and saints, who form His crown 1
Oh, joy beyond conception great ! glory exceed
ing man's imagination to conceive ! an immortal
crown prepared by Jesus Christ for all His
faithful soldiers ! a reward beyond all price
prepared for souls beloved by Him ! Ah,
happy and blest will be our lot, if we shall
have fought His battles with fidelity, for He
Himself will be our eternal reward !

III. "He that striveth for the mastery, is

JESUS OUR GLORIFIER. 133

not crowned except he strive lawfully" * Glo
rious is the lot of those who fight valiantly
beneath the standard of Christ ! After a brief
contest they shall enter for ever into the joy
of their Lord, they shall shine like • stars for
all eternity, and shall be for ever inebriated
with the plenty of their Lord's house, f What
tongue can tell, what intellect can comprehend,
the bliss of being admitted to the Divine
Presence, together with all the choirs of angels,
to hymn the Creator's glory, to behold unveiled
the face of God, and to be wholly consummated
with Him in charity ! Truly, eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered
into the heart of man to conceive the delights
which God hath prepared for those that love
Him. | But reflect well, 0 devout soul, that if
we would be crowned with Christ hereafter, it is
absolutely necessary that we now combat
valiantly with Him against His and our enemies.
He only that fighteth shall gain the victory,
and he only that is victorious shall be crowned.
If, then, the greatness of the reward allures
us, which Christ has prepared for His faithful
soldiers, let not the fatigues of the combat
discourage us, since great rewards are never
gained but through great labour and toil. But
if, instead of lighting, we lay down our arms

* 2 Tim. ii. 5.
f Pa. xxxv. 9. J 1 Cor. ii. 9.

134 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

and fly from the combat, we shall be far from
having any part with Christ, we shall be
repelled by Him as unworthy of His love, and
shall be cast with the unprofitable servant in
the gospel into the exterior darkness, where
there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. *

I thank Thee, my dearest Lord Jesus, for
Thy goodness in calling me to bear part in Thy
blessed kingdom, and admitting me to share
in the glory . of Thy faithful followers. Oh,
purify my soul from every stain, make it
worthy of that blessed country, where nothing
defiled can enter. How blest would be my
lot, if at the end of my life I might breathe
out my soul in Thy sacred arms, and be by
Thee introduced into the blessed regions of Para
dise ! Oh, may Thy kingdom quickly come !
Would that the day were here, when the mem
bers shall be united to their Head, the children
to their Father, the subjects to their King,
the sheep to their most tender Shepherd, — that
day of clearness and of light, when all darkness
shall pass away ; of mercy and of grace, when
all the heavenly treasures shall be disclosed ;
of joy and exultation, when our hearts shall
be immersed in the sea of the eternal enjoy
ment of God !

Trusting in Thy wounds and in Thy sacred
blood, I hope, most loving Saviour, that Thou

* Matt. xxv. 30.

JESUS OUR GLORIFIER. 135

wilt pardon my sins and admit me to the pos
session of Thy glory. Hence I am resolved to
walk in Thy footsteps, to imitate Thy blessed
example, to embrace Thy cross, to die to all
created things, in order to live only to Thee,
and to reign with Thee eternally in heaven.

0 Mary, Queen of heaven, pray to thy
divine Son Jesus for me, obtain me the grace
to praise, to thank, to love Him with thee
for ever in Paradise.

EJACULATION. — Come, 0 sweet Jesus, reign
wholly in this heart of mine.

VISIT XXX.

In which we contemplate Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament as our All.

T. " 1 am, who am." * All created beings,
how high soever their dignity and prerogatives,
not excluding the most exalted Seraphim,
possess only a limited and finite good, which,
moreover, they have not of themselves, for
they have received all from the hands of
God. But Jesus Christ, being very God,
possesses in Himself an unlimited and infinite
good, contains within Himself every good ;
and this belongs to Him of His own nature

* Ex. iii. 14.

136 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

without His being indebted for it to any
other being. Hence He is truly that which
He is, namely, Essential Good, Author of all
good. Let us conceive any kind of perfection,
let us represent to our mind whatever excel
lence we please; it is certain that all this is
possessed by Jesus Christ in an infinite degree.
Moreover, all the perfection and excellence of
all the creatures which fill heaven and earth,
are, as it were, but a faint ray of that one
infinite Goodness and Beauty. What then
shall we say of those Christians who seek for
good apart from Jesus Christ ? " Ah, deluded
beings," says St. Augustine, "whither do you
go to seek for goods of soul and body 1 Seek
that One Good, in whom is every good ! "

II. " / am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning
and the End" * The world promises to its
followers satisfactions, delights, and every kind
of good. But how does it fulfil its promises 1
Alas ! the world is a traitor which, whilst it
seduces us on the one side with its deceits,
aims on the other a mortal blow at our hearts.
It has succeeded up to this time in making
an infinite number of beings miserable, but
has not yet been able to make a single being
happy. Its false promises may deceive us
with the appearance of good, but they can
never satisfy us. Where then shall we find

* Apoc. i. 8.

JESUS OUR ALL. 137

a good which can fully satisfy our longings,
and fill the vast capacity of our hearts 1 Lift
up your eyes, 0 devout soul, and fix them
on yonder altar, on yonder sacred Tabernacle,
and there you will find your Treasure and
your every good. Jesus, your most loving
Jesus, who here treats with you so tenderly
in the Divine Sacrament, is your Begin
ning, your End, your every Good. What can
be wanting to Him, who possesses the King
of heaven and earth, the God of majesty and
glory, the Source of all blessedness ; in fine,
an infinite and endless Good 1 What tender
ness of love ought we not to conceive towards
our most loving Jesus at this consideration !
So deeply was St. Francis of Assisium im
pressed with this thought, that he passed
whole nights in loving converse with his
Lord, repeating again and again, these words
"My God and my All, my God and my All.''
Ah, happy should we be could we truly pene
trate what these words signify, and feel their
force in our inmost soul !

III. "If God ~be for us, who is against
us ? " * Let us keep close to Jesus, and
we have nothing to fear. What have we
to fear if Jesus Christ be with us 1 Has He
not sovereign power in heaven and earth ?
Does He not hold in His hands the hearts of

* Rom. viii. 31.

138 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

all men ? Does He not direct all events for
the good of His elect? Why then should we
fear, if He be with us I Shall we fear the
tribulations of this life 1 Xo, for these Jesus
can so sweeten by His grace, that they shall
turn to our endless triumph. Is it death
we have to fear ? No, for Jesus has overcome
death and taken away all its terrors, making
it become sweet and peaceful to the souls
that love Him. Let us then love Jesus, and
be sure that were all creatures to rise up
against us, they would not be able to hurt
us ; for, with all their efforts to injure us,
they would co-operate for our good, and increase
our crown. Let us keep ourselves united to
Jesus, and say with the prophet David, " The
Lord is my light and my salvation, whom
then shall I fear 1 The Lord is the protector
of my life, of whom shall I be afraid 1 If
armies in camp should stand together against
me, my heart shall not fear. If a battle
should rise up against me, in this will I be
confident." *

Alas ! what blindness have I shown in having
hitherto put my trust in creatures, rather than
in Thee, my dearest Lord, my Creator, and my
every Good. It grieves my inmost soul thus
to have abused Thy bounty. But yet
have mercy, Lord, on me a wretched sinner,

* Ps. xxv. 1-3.

JESUS OUR ALL.

139

grant me pardon of all my faults. Give me
grace to repair the offences I have committed
against Thee, by loving Thee without limit
for the time to come, and dedicating what
yet remains of 'this life of mine entirely to
Thy holy service. I renounce all earthly
satisfactions, and desire nothing but to give
Thee what is justly due from me, my
God, my treasure, and my every good. My
heart sighs for Thee alone, in Thee I place all
my trust, Thou art my only good. Draw me,
dear Jesus, with the chains of Thy love, bind
me close to Thy heart, inebriate me with Thy
charity, give me Thy love with Thy grace,
and I am rich enough, and I wish and seek
for nothing more ; Thou shalt be the God of
my heart, and my portion for ever.

0 Mary, my hope and my sweet refuge, I
fly to Thy protection, let me never cease to
love Thy dearest Son Jesus.

EJACULATION. — 0 my God, and my every
good.

140

VISIT XXXI.

In which we contemplate Jesus Christ as our Victim.

I. " Greater love than this no man hath,
that a man lay down his life for his friends." *
The whole of the tenth chapter of St. Paul's
Epistle to the Hebrews is directed to showing
that one only sacrifice or host was substituted
for the many sacrifices of the Old Testament,
that host being Our Lord Jesus Christ : " Offer
ing one sacrifice (host) for sins." f This one
host, and not many hosts, we offer daily on
our altars in the sacrifice of the Eucharist !
" 0 Salutaris Hostia ! " | Although then
everything offered to God in sacrifice may be
called a host or victim, § yet only the Eucharist
is called the Sacred Host, because it is the only
victim offered to God in expiation of the sins
of the whole world, and for the same reason
it is called in the Canon of the Mass, " A pure
host, a sacred host, a spotless host."

Jesus Christ gives Himself to us in the

* John xv. 13. t Heb. x. 12.

I St. Thomas Aq. " Verbum Supermini.'
Rom. xii 1 ; Heb. viii. 3 ; xiii. 15, 10 ; 1 Pet. ii. 5.

JESUS OUR VICTIM. 141

Holy Eucharist immolated, as it were, and with
His blood separated in the only manner pos
sible from His body, for He says : " This is
my body ; :J and then : " This is my blood ; "
and thus He lays Himself on the altar a Host
of immolation for us, in the same way as He
delivered His body to death and shed His
blood : " This is my body which is delivered

up for you." "This is my blood which

shall be shed for you." * Xo longer shadows
and figures ! The Lord is weary now of the
smoke of sacrifice, of the fat of sheep and of
oxen ; He takes pleasure only in the Sacred Host
of our altars.

Here for empty shadows fled

Is reality instead ;

Here, instead of darkness, light, t

Oh, who will give me to be more and more
united with that blessed body sacrificed for me,
who will give me to plunge into that blood
which cleanses from all sin ! "0 Salutaris
Hostia ! "

II. " Blessed are they that have washed their
robes in the blood of the Lamb." J To be
victims of charity like Jesus Christ is the
high vocation of all the elect, for, as the

* Luke xxii. 19, 20.

t St. Thomas Aq. " Lauda Sion."

£ Apoc. xxii. 14.

142 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

sacrifice of the cross was perpetuated in the
martyrs in the primitive ages, so subsequently
and at the present time it is continued in the
countless victims of charity who immolate
themselves in a thousand ways for the love
of God and of their neighbour, strengthened
by the virtue of the Eucharistic sacrifice. Every
holy soul is a victim of charity. The Eternal
Father, sent His only begotten Son into this
world to be immolated for our sins, and
Jesus Christ desires that His followers should
also become victims of divine love. For He
says, " I am come to bring fire on the earth,
and what will I but that it be enkindled." * " He
that would come after Me, let him take up
his cross and follow Me ; " and sending his
Apostles forth into the world, He said to them,
" I send you like sheep among wolves." f St.
Paul would have all Christians dead and buried
with Christ, and, speaking of himself, says that
he is crucified to the world, and the world to
him, and Holy Writ is full of such sentiments.
God has always had, and will have His
victims. These were the holy martyrs who
shed their blood for His love, the confessors
who, dead to themselves, lived and worked for
Christ only, and the countless holy virgins
who, in the seclusion of their cloisters, lead a
life of prayer and self-immolation. Happy

* Luke xii. 49. t Luke x. 3.

JESUS OUR VICTIM. 143

are those souls who become true victims,
consumed by the fire .of Christ and seasoned
with the salt of His sacrifice.

III. " / beseech you, therefore, brethren, by
the nwcy of God, that you present your bodies
a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God, your
reasonable service." * This spirit of sacrifice,
so necessary for all Christians, is the groundwork
of the devotion which consists in offering our
own blood to the Eternal Father, in union
with that of His Divine Son, Jesus Christ.
If the world can boast of many victims eager
to sacrifice themselves for its empty vanities
and folly, how earnestly should not the
children of light endeavour to follow their
crucified Saviour and offer Him all they possess,
even their blood and their lives. This is the
greatest triumph of grace in the heart of a
Christian, implying, as it does, the practice of
the most entire mortification and perfect charity.
In order to enter upon the practice of this
devotion, we should have the following dis
positions : First, true humility of heart, which
will convince us that our offering has no
efficacy except through the mercy of God,
and that to make it pleasing in His sight we
must unite it with the oblation of the Divine
Son, Jesus Christ, to His Eternal Father ; then
will our oblation and offering become but one

* Rom. xii. 1.

144 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

with that of Christ. Secondly, sincerity, which
will dispose us to receive from the hands of
God any kind of suffering which it may please
His Divine Majesty to send us. Without this
sincerity we shall be unable to surmount the
difficulties we may encounter when called to
share the chalice of our Divine Saviour in
whatever degree it may please God to make us
partakers of it. Lastly, earnest prayer is essen
tial, as Our Lord Himself taught us by His
prayer in the Garden on the night before His
passion. We, too, must beseech the Eternal
Father that in so far as He may vouchsafe to
accept our oblation He may also grant us
strength to accomplish the sacrifice.

The sacred heart of Jesus will be the
centre of union for all devout souls who thus
dedicate themselves and all they have to the
glory of God; this divine heart is the school
in which alone can be learnt the science of
the saints, for it was here that our divine
Master consummated the great sacrifice of Him
self, receiving from the hands of His Father
the chalice of His passion, and delivering
Himself up to death, even the death of the
cross.

0 my Jesus, I am wholly Thine, and I
beseech Thee to accept the offering which I
now make to Thee of my blood in union with
that most precious Blood which Thou didst

JESUS OUR VICTIM. 145

shed for me to the last drop on the cross.
This union alone can give value to my
oblation, which is in itself worthless ; do thou
deign to receive it, and Thy gracious accept
ance will be my reward.

I have not yet shed my blood for Thee,
dear Jesus, it is true, but I desire to do so,
or, at least, I long to have this desire.
Would that 1 could imitate the holy martyrs,
who had the grace to die generously for love
of Thee ! Vouchsafe, 0 Lord, through that
grace which Thou hast merited for us by Thy
passion and death, to bless these my desires
and make them fruitful in good works.

EJACULATION. — 0|most blessed Virgin Mary,
Mother of love and mercy, who didst stand
by Thy beloved Son upon the cross, deign
to assist us poor sinners, who desire to make
the oblation of our sinful blood through Thy
Immaculate hands, so that in union with the
precious Blood of Jesus, it may become an
acceptable sacrifice in the sight of the divine
Majesty. Amen.

146

OFFERINGS OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS.

1. Eternal Father, I offer Thee the merits of
the most Precious Blood of Jesus, Thy beloved
Son and my divine Redeemer, for the propaga
tion and exaltation of my dear Mother, the Holy
Church, for the safety and prosperity of her
visible head, the holy Roman Pontiff, for the
cardinals, bishops, and pastors of souls, and for
all the ministers of the sanctuary,

^. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.

1$. As it was in the beginning, is now, and
ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Blessed and praised for evermore be Jesus,
Who has saved us with His Blood.

2. Eternal Father, I offer Thee the merits of
the most precious Blood of Jesus, Thy beloved
Son and my divine Redeemer, for the peace and
concord of Kings and Catholic Princes^ for the
humiliation of the enemies of the holy faith,
and for the happiness of all Christian people.

Glory be to the Father, etc.
Blessed and praised, etc.

3. Eternal Father, I offer Thee the merits of
the most precious Blood of Jesus, Thy beloved
Son and my divine Redeemer, for the repentance

THE PRECIOUS BLOOD. 147

of unbelievers, the extirpation of all heresies,
and the conversion of sinners.

Glory be to the Father, etc.

Blessed and praised, etc.

4. Eternal Father, I offer Thee the precious
Blood of Jesus, Thy beloved Son and my divine
Redeemer, for all my relations, friends, and
enemies, for the poor, the sick, and those in
tribulation, and for all those for whom Thou
wiliest I should pray or k no west that I ought to
pray.

Glory be to the Father, etc.
Blessed and praised, etc.

5. Eternal Father, I offer Thee the merits of
the most precious Blood of Jesus, Thy beloved
Son, and my divine Redeemer, for all those who
shall this day pass to another life, that Thou
mayest deliver them from the pains of hell,
and admit them the more readily to the posses
sion of Thy glory.

Glory be to the Father, etc.
Blessed and praised, etc.

6. Eternal Father, I offer Thee the merits
of the most precious Blood of Jesus, Thy beloved
Son, and my divine Redeemer, for all those who
are lovers of this treasure of His Blood, for all
those who join with me in adoring and honour
ing it, and for all those who try to spread the
devotion to it.

Glory be to the Father, etc.
Blessed and praised, etc.

148 THE PRECIOUS BLOOD.

7. Eternal Father, I offer Thee the merits of
the most precious Blood of Jesus, Thy beloved
Son, and my divine Redeemer, for all my wants
both spiritual and temporal, for the holy souls
in Purgatory, and particularly for those who in
lifetime were most devoted to this price of our
redemption, and to the sorrows and pains of our
dear Mother, the most holy Mary.

Glory be the Father, etc.

Blessed and praised, etc.

Blessed and exalted be the Blood of Jesus,
now and always and throughout all eternity.

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